Taiwan questions head of pager firm linked to Hezbollah blasts

TAIPEI, Sept 20 (Reuters) – 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 Thursday, 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.

Hsu declined to answer reporters questions as he left one of the Taipei offices of Taiwan prosecutors late Thursday. Calls to the prosecutors office before office hours on Friday were not answered. Taipei prosecutors have not issued any statements so far about their investigations into Gold Apollo.

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

Hsu said this week 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 Wu in April this year. 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 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 Tuesday. 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 last October.