Taipei: The president and founder of a Taiwanese pager company, linked to the recent detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, was questioned by prosecutors until late Thursday night before being released.
Hsu Ching-kuang, the president and founder of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, stated that his company did not manufacture the devices used in the attack. He claimed that the pagers were produced by Budapest-based company BAC, which holds a license to use Gold Apollo’s brand.
International news agency Reuters analyzed images of the destroyed pagers, noting that the format and stickers on the devices were consistent with those typically made by Gold Apollo.
As Hsu exited a Taipei prosecutor’s office late Thursday, he declined to respond to questions from reporters. Attempts to reach the prosecutor’s office for further information early Friday were unsuccessful, and no official statements regarding the investigation into Gold Apollo have been released.
Another individual, Teresa Wu, was also seen leaving the prosecutor’s office. Wu is the sole employee of a company called Apollo Systems Ltd. She similarly did not speak to reporters. Hsu had previously mentioned that a person named Teresa had been one of his contacts in connection with the deal involving Hungary-based BAC.
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Company records reveal that Apollo Systems Ltd was established by Wu in April of this year. The exact nature of the relationship between her company and BAC remains unclear.
Taiwanese authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. Police have made several visits to Hsu’s company, which operates out of a modest office in New Taipei City.
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The explosions, which occurred on Tuesday, left at least nine people dead and nearly 3,000 injured. According to a senior Lebanese security source and another insider, the explosives planted inside the pagers were the work of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, has vowed to retaliate against Israel. Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the detonations, tensions remain high as cross-border warfare between Hezbollah and Israel has continued since the Gaza conflict erupted last October.
