Two individuals from Taiwanese firms have been questioned as a part of a probe into pagers that exploded whereas being utilized by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, investigators mentioned Friday, as prime officers insisted the units weren’t from the island.
Questions and hypothesis have swirled over the place the units got here from and the way they have been provided to the militant group after tons of of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated throughout Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing no less than 37 individuals and wounding practically 3,000.
The New York Instances reported this week that Israel had inserted explosive materials right into a cargo of pagers from Taiwan’s Gold Apollo, citing American and different nameless officers.
However Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang denied producing the units, pointing the finger as a substitute at Hungary-based associate BAC Consulting KFT, which Gold Apollo had allowed to make use of its trademark.
cLocal media reported that the second individual questioned was Wu Yu-jen, a consultant linked to BAC Consulting KFT, who had arrange an organization based mostly in Taipei known as “Apollo Methods”.
“Our nation takes the case very severely,” mentioned the prosecutors’ workplace in Taipei’s Shilin district in an announcement Friday.
“We instructed the Investigation Bureau’s nationwide safety station to additional interview two individuals from Taiwanese firms as witnesses yesterday.”
The 2 witnesses have been allowed to depart after a number of rounds of questioning.
“We are going to make clear the details as quickly as attainable similar to whether or not Taiwanese firms are concerned or not,” the workplace mentioned.
It additionally mentioned investigators had searched 4 places, together with in New Taipei Metropolis’s Xizhi district, the place Gold Apollo is positioned, and in Taipei’s Neihu district.
Neihu district is the listed tackle of Apollo Methods, based on an organization registry web site, which confirmed that the agency was established in April this yr.
Wu didn’t converse to reporters when she was introduced in for questioning Thursday, based on native TV footage.
Financial Minister Kuo Jyh-huei advised reporters Friday that Gold Apollo’s made-in-Taiwan pagers consisted of parts that have been “low-end IC (built-in circuits) and batteries”.
“This stuff wouldn’t explode,” he mentioned, including that Gold Apollo had exported 260,000 pagers up to now two years and “there has by no means been an explosion”.
When pressed on the pagers in Lebanon utilized by Hezbollah operatives, he mentioned: “We could be sure that they don’t seem to be produced in Taiwan.”
Premier Cho Jung-tai additionally reiterated Friday that “the corporate and Taiwan didn’t straight export pagers to Lebanon”.
Earlier this week, Gold Apollo mentioned the pager mannequin talked about in media stories “is produced and offered by BAC”.
However a Hungarian authorities spokesman mentioned BAC Consulting KFT was “a buying and selling middleman, with no manufacturing or operational website in Hungary”.
