Turkey seizes 1,300 explosive beepers bound for Hezbollah just days after attack

Just days after the dramatic pager operation in Lebanon last September, Turkish authorities intercepted an additional shipment of approximately 1,300 pagers that were reportedly intended for Hezbollah. The discovery, revealed today (Tuesday), was first reported by the Turkish newspaper Sabah.

According to the report, the pagers were seized in Istanbul after Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) received intelligence about a shipment of pagers destined for Lebanon from Turkey. Following the tip-off, MIT agents conducted thorough inspections at several airports and uncovered the shipment.

The pagers reportedly arrived in Turkey on four pallets from Taiwan, transported via a cargo plane that routed through Hong Kong to Istanbul. The pallets contained 61 boxes and had reached Istanbul just one day before the explosion of the pagers in Lebanon.

Further details reveal that Turkish intelligence officers opened the boxes using specialized security measures, accompanied by a bomb disposal unit. The seized pagers were then transferred to a laboratory for further analysis. It was in the lab that explosives were found concealed within the batteries of the pagers.

This revelation comes shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly discussed the Lebanese pager operation during a speech at the JNS Conference held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem last week. Netanyahu disclosed new details from the mission, stating:

“We bombed a scanner (explosives) that was supposed to arrive from Iran to Lebanon to inspect the pagers.” “Then we learned that they were sending the pagers to Iran for inspection. I asked, ‘How long will it take them to get an answer (on whether the pagers were booby-trapped)?’ They answered me that they would have an answer within one day. I said, ‘In that case, activate it immediately.’”

The seizure of the additional 1,300 pagers highlights ongoing efforts to thwart Hezbollah’s attempts to smuggle advanced equipment and weapons into Lebanon, often with Iranian involvement. Turkish authorities have not yet released further details about the investigation or whether arrests were made in connection with the shipment.