Taiwanese investigators initially searched four locations and questioned two people including Gold Apollo’s head, who has denied producing the devices.
ST
Sep 23, 2024
TAIPEI – Taiwan investigators on Sept 23 questioned two more employees of a tech firm as part of a probe into the delivery of exploding communications devices to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Questions abound over where the devices came from and how they were supplied to the militant group after hundreds of pagers and two-way radios detonated across Lebanon on Sept 17, killing at least 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000.
The New York Times reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan’s Gold Apollo, citing US and other anonymous officials.
Taiwanese investigators initially searched four locations and questioned two people, including Gold Apollo’s head, Mr Hsu Ching-kuang, who has denied producing the devices.
On Sept 23, the prosecutors’ office said it had questioned two more company employees.
“Today, it also directed the National Security division... to interview former or current employees of (Gold Apollo) as witnesses,” said the prosecutors’ office in Taipei’s Shilin district, where the company is based.
“The two helped clarify the case, and the whole case is under intensive investigation,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
Investigators have so far not named any of the witnesses, though Mr Hsu was seen on Sept 19 shuttling between the office and his headquarters with investigators.
Gold Apollo had initially pointed the finger at its Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting KFT, which the Taiwanese company had allowed to use its trademark.
But a Hungarian government spokesman said BAC Consulting KFT was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
Taiwanese media had identified Mr Wu Yu-jen, a representative of Gold Systems – reportedly connected to BAC Consulting KFT – as another person brought in for questioning.
The island’s economic minister had said the authorities were “certain” that the exploding pagers in Lebanon were “not produced in Taiwan”. AFP
Sep 23, 2024
TAIPEI – Taiwan investigators on Sept 23 questioned two more employees of a tech firm as part of a probe into the delivery of exploding communications devices to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Questions abound over where the devices came from and how they were supplied to the militant group after hundreds of pagers and two-way radios detonated across Lebanon on Sept 17, killing at least 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000.
The New York Times reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan’s Gold Apollo, citing US and other anonymous officials.
Taiwanese investigators initially searched four locations and questioned two people, including Gold Apollo’s head, Mr Hsu Ching-kuang, who has denied producing the devices.
On Sept 23, the prosecutors’ office said it had questioned two more company employees.
“Today, it also directed the National Security division... to interview former or current employees of (Gold Apollo) as witnesses,” said the prosecutors’ office in Taipei’s Shilin district, where the company is based.
“The two helped clarify the case, and the whole case is under intensive investigation,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
Investigators have so far not named any of the witnesses, though Mr Hsu was seen on Sept 19 shuttling between the office and his headquarters with investigators.
Gold Apollo had initially pointed the finger at its Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting KFT, which the Taiwanese company had allowed to use its trademark.
But a Hungarian government spokesman said BAC Consulting KFT was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
Taiwanese media had identified Mr Wu Yu-jen, a representative of Gold Systems – reportedly connected to BAC Consulting KFT – as another person brought in for questioning.
The island’s economic minister had said the authorities were “certain” that the exploding pagers in Lebanon were “not produced in Taiwan”. AFP
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