How hard is to to rip apart a sample of pagers and check for explosives?
An explosive looks like nothing else inside an electronic device and would be very obvious.
It is the height of blundering to distribute thousands of pagers without being sure they have not been tampered with.
Hezbollah was aware of its communications being infiltrated and this is why they decided to try new devices only to face a remote attack.
I found this:
"Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AR924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least 11 people were killed and more than 2,700 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials."
Two ounces might not be easy to detect.