ICOM, a Japanese business, has denied any responsibility for the walkie-talkies that went off during recent explosions in Lebanon, which left 20 people dead and hundreds injured. Following a similar string of pager explosions on Tuesday that left 3,000 people injured and 12 dead, including children, the blasts on Wednesday took place in the Bekaa Valley and the suburbs of Beirut.
Director of ICOM Yoshiki Enomoto stated, “There is no way a bomb could have been integrated into one of our devices during manufacturing.” Enomoto told Reuters that ICOM’s production process is highly automated, meaning that there is no space for manipulation or bomb insertion. He made this explanation outside the company’s Osaka headquarters.
The radio models implicated in the attacks had been out of production for a decade, according to the company. Enomoto noted that most of the devices still circulating were likely counterfeit, which raises questions about the actual origin of the explosives.
“If it turns out to be counterfeit, then we’ll have to investigate how someone created a bomb that looks like our product,” Enomoto stated. “If it’s genuine, we’ll have to trace its distribution to figure out how it ended up there.”
Concerns concerning the use of altered or fake electronics as explosive devices, especially in conflict areas, have increased in light of this incident. Hezbollah, which is active in Lebanon, has come under more and more attention as their use of technology in their operations grows riskier. ICOM and Lebanese officials are cooperating in the continuing investigation to identify the source of the lethal devices.
