Taiwan questions head of pager firm linked to Hezbollah blasts

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Hsu Ching-kuang, founder and president of Gold Apollo, arrives at Taiwan Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei, Taiwan September 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Mr Hsu declined to answer reporters questions as he left a Taipei office of Taiwan prosecutors late on Sept 19.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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- The president and founder of a Taiwanese pager company linked to the detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon was questioned by prosecutors late into the night on Sept 19, then released.

Taiwan-based Gold Apollo’s president and founder Hsu Ching-kuang has said

it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack

, and that they were made by a Budapest-based company BAC, which has a licence to use its brand.

Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo.

Mr Hsu declined to answer reporters’ questions as he left one of the Taipei offices of Taiwan prosecutors late on Sept 19.

Calls to the prosecutors’ office before office hours on Sept 20 were not answered. Taipei prosecutors have not issued any statements so far about their investigations into Gold Apollo.

Another person seen leaving the prosecutors’ office was Ms Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo Systems, who did not speak to reporters as she left late on Sept 19.

Mr Hsu said this week that a person called Teresa had been one of his contacts for the deal with Hungary-based firm BAC.

Company records show Apollo Systems was set up by Ms Wu in April 2024. It was not immediately clear what the relationship is between her company and BAC.

Taiwan’s government has said it is investigating what happened, and police have made several visits to Mr Hsu’s company, in a small, unassuming office in Taipei’s next-door city of New Taipei.

At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when

pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously

across Lebanon on Sept 17.

According to a senior Lebanese security source and another source, explosives inside the devices were planted by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the detonations.

The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted in October. REUTERS

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