Taiwanese investigators expand probe into Lebanon explosions

TAIPEI: Taiwanese investigators on Monday (September 23) questioned two more employees of a technology firm as part of an investigation into the delivery of exploding communication devices To the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

After hundreds of pagers and radios exploded in Lebanon last week, killing at least 39 people and injuring nearly 3,000, many questions remain about where the devices came from and how they were delivered to the militant group.

The New York Times, citing U.S. and other unnamed officials, reported that Israel placed explosives in a shipment of pagers belonging to Taiwan’s Gold Apollo.

Taiwanese investigators initially searched four locations and questioned two people, including Gold Apollo chairman Hsu Ching-kuang, who denied making the devices.

The prosecutor’s office said two more company employees were questioned on Monday.

“Today, the National Security unit was also instructed to question former or current employees of (Gold Apollo) as witnesses,” the prosecutor’s office in Taipei’s Shilin district, where the company is headquartered, said.

“Both of them helped to shed light on the incident and the entire case is being intensively investigated,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Investigators have not yet released the names of any witnesses, but Hsu was seen shuttling between the office and headquarters with investigators on Thursday.

Gold Apollo initially blamed its Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting, which had allowed the Taiwanese company to use its trademark.

But a Hungarian government spokesman said BAC Consulting was “a trading intermediary with no production or operational facilities in Hungary.”

Taiwanese media reported last week that another person questioned was Gold Systems representative Wu Yu-jen, who reportedly has ties to BAC Consulting.

The island’s economy minister said they were “sure” the pagers that exploded in Lebanon were “not made in Taiwan”.