British-educated businesswoman at centre of exploding pager plot is in hiding under the guard of Hungarian secret services, her mother says

The businesswoman linked to thousands of deadly pagers which exploded in Lebanon and Syria this week is in hiding, guarded by the Hungarian secret services, her mother has claimed.

British-educated Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, 49, has not appeared publicly since the deadly simultaneous attack, suspected to be the work of the Mossad, which targeted Hezbollah on Tuesday.

Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono's mother Beatrix, who lives in Catania, Sicily, told MailOnline her daughter had received unspecified 'threats' and was now 'somewhere safe protected by agents of the Hungarian government'.

The claim has been denied by Hungarian officials in Budapest, where Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono is listed as the CEO of BAC Consulting, which bears her initials.

A Taiwanese company which holds the trademark for the pagers claimed that BAC was responsible for the manufacture of the devices, an accusation she denied before going into hiding.

Her mother, Beatrix, 70, said she had been in touch with her daughter but both women been advised 'not to talk to media by the Hungarian secret services. No comment, no comment,' she repeated in response to other questions.

Earlier she insisted her daughter was not knowingly involved in the plot.

'She is not involved in any way, she was just a broker. The items did not pass through Budapest. ... They were not produced in Hungary,' she told Associated Press.

Two days of attacks this week, first targeting pagers and then walkie-talkies, have killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, including civilians. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono's company came under scrutiny after Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm, said it had authorized BAC Consulting to use its name on the pagers that were used in the first attack, but that the Hungarian company was responsible for manufacturing and design.

On Wednesday, a Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers delivered to Hezbollah were never in Hungary, and that BAC Consultants merely acted as an intermediary.

Mrs Bársony-Arcidiacono senior lives in the town of Santa Venerina at the foot of Mount Etna, where the streets and pavements are coated in black volcanic ash from a major eruption last month.

Her semi-detached house with a wide balcony overlooking the shimmering water of the Gulf of Catania on one side and Europe's largest active volcano on the other, was where Christiana was brought up, attending the Archimedes High School in Acireale, and later studying physics at the University of Catania.

Her Italian father, Salvatore, a journalist, died many years ago, but by then Cristiana had already left Italy.

According to official Italian records, she left to study in the UK around 2006.

On social media, Ms Bársony-Arcidiacono now describes herself as a strategic adviser and business developer with a doctorate who has worked for major international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the CARE humanitarian agency, as well as for venture capital firms.

She says she received her Ph.D. from University College London, where she was enrolled in the early to mid-2000s, according to her LinkedIn page. There, she worked with Ákos Kövér, a Hungarian physicist and now-retired professor, who confirmed her enrolment at the prestigious university.

Kövér told AP: 'At the time, we also published some joint articles. I am not aware of her other activities, as far as I know she has not done any scientific work since then.'

Neighbours said they were shocked to read the claims of Sicilian-born Cristiana's involvement in the supply chain which led to the multiple deadly attacks in Beirut.

'She could not have known,' repeated one man who knows her family and asked not to be named. 'She is a very clever lady from a respectable family and she would never have done something like this. If it is true, then they must have tricked her.'

Another family friend told La Sicilia newspaper: 'I didn't believe that Cristiana was the owner of a company capable of such a high profile business.'

Widowed Mrs Bársony-Arcidiacono said her daughter was born in Sicily and studied at the University of Catania there before pursuing a Ph.D. in London. She worked in Paris and Vienna before moving to Budapest in October 2016 to care for her elderly grandmother.

In May 2022, Cristiana incorporated the company at the heart of the mystery of the pagers.

BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of a modest building in Budapest with numerous other enterprises, but has no physical offices and uses the property in Hungary's capital — like the other companies based there — only as an official address, according to a woman who emerged from the building earlier this week and refused to be named.

The company's website said it specialized in 'environment, development, and international affairs.' The corporate registry listed 118 official functions including sugar and oil production, retail jewellery sales and natural gas extraction.

It brought in $725,000 in revenue in 2022 and $593,000 in 2023, according to the company registry. Last year, the company spent nearly $324,000, or around 55% of its revenue, on 'equipment.'

The company's website has been taken down since Wednesday.