Taiwan, Bulgaria deny links to Lebanon pager explosions, investigation underway

Hsu said this week that a person named Teresa was one of his contacts in the BAC deal | (Photo: AP)

3 minutes of reading Last update: 20 Sep 2024 | 14:49 IST

Taiwanese and Bulgarian authorities denied on Friday that they had anything to do with the delivery of thousands of pagers that were detonated in Lebanon on Tuesday, dealing a fatal blow to Hezbollah.

Tuesday’s attack and Wednesday’s in which Hezbollah portable radios exploded, together killed 37 people and wounded about 3,000 in Lebanon.

How and when the pagers were used as weapons and remotely detonated remains a public secret, and Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania have all participated in the search for answers.

Security sources said Israel was responsible for the pager explosions, which raised the stakes in the escalating conflict between the two sides. Israel has not commented directly on the attacks.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said this week it did not make the devices used in the attack, and Budapest-based BAC, which targeted the pagers, has a license to use its brand.

“These are mainly cheap integrated circuits and batteries,” Taiwan Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.

When asked if the pager parts that exploded were made in Taiwan, he replied: “I can say with certainty that they were not made in Taiwan,” adding that the case was being investigated by judicial authorities.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, who also addressed reporters in parliament, replied negatively when asked whether he had met with the Israeli ambassador to express concern about the matter.

“We ask our missions abroad to raise security awareness and will exchange relevant information with other countries.”

Bulgaria also came under investigation on Thursday after local media reported that Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd was involved in selling pagers.

However, Bulgaria’s national security agency DANS said on Friday it had “unquestionably established” that none of the pagers used in the Lebanon attack were imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria.

It was also found that neither Norta nor its Norwegian owner traded, sold or bought pagers within Bulgarian jurisdiction.

Taiwan Investigation

As Taiwanese authorities investigate any potential links between the country’s vast global technology supply chain and the devices used in the Lebanon attacks, Gold Apollo’s chairman and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, was questioned by prosecutors late Thursday night and later released.

Also in the prosecutor’s office was Teresa Wu, the only employee of Apollo Systems, who did not speak to reporters because she left the office late Thursday evening.

Hsu said this week that one of his contacts for the BAC deal was someone named Teresa.

A spokesman for the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei told Reuters that two people had been questioned as witnesses and consent had been granted to conduct searches at four of its company offices in Taiwan as part of the investigation.

“We will try to determine as soon as possible whether there was any involvement of Taiwanese companies to ensure the safety of the country and its people,” the spokesman said.

Iran-linked Hezbollah has vowed retaliation against Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the detonation. The two sides have been fighting a cross-border war since the Gaza conflict erupted last October.

(Only the headline and image of the report may have been edited by the Business Standard team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)

First published: 20 Sep 2024 | 14:49 IST