The logo of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo is seen outside its office in New Taipei City on 18 September 2024. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo on 18 September denied a report that it had produced hundreds of explosive-packed pagers used by Hezbollah members which simultaneously exploded. (Yan Zhao/AFP)
Taiwan prosecutors said on Thursday that they have so far
questioned four people as witnesses in their investigation into a Taiwanese
company linked to pagers that detonated last week in Lebanon in a deadly blow
to Hezbollah.
Security sources said Israel was responsible for the pager
explosions that raised the stakes in a growing conflict between the two sides.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
How or when the pagers were weaponised and remotely
detonated remains a public mystery and the hunt for answers has involved
Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania.
Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said last week it did not
manufacture the devices used in the attack and that Hungary-based company BAC,
to which the pagers were traced, had a licence to use its brand. Taiwan’s
government also said the pagers were not made in Taiwan.
A spokesperson for the Shilin District Prosecutors Office in
Taipei, which has been leading the probe into Gold Apollo, said in addition to
two people questioned last week it had also questioned one current and one
former employee as witnesses.
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“We are processing this case expeditiously and seeking
resolution as soon as possible,” the spokesperson added, declining to name
the people questioned or say whether prosecutors planned to question further
people.
Last week, prosecutors questioned Gold Apollo’s president
and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, and Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company
called Apollo Systems.
Gold Apollo has not commented on that investigation and did
not respond to a further request for comment on Thursday.
Reuters has not been able to reach Wu for comment. Neither
answered reporter questions last week when they left the prosecutors’ office.
