Lebanon explosions: Components for pagers used in blasts not made in Taiwan, says minister
File photo.
Taiwan said on Friday (Sept 20) that the componentsused in thousands of pagers that detonated in Lebanon earlier this week were not made inTaiwan.Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company, 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.
"The situation as we understand it is, all the components in the pagers produced by this company (Gold Apollo) will not explode. Roughly during the last two years, this company has exported about 260,000 pagers, there has never been any explosions. So, we can determine that the pagers produced inTaiwando not explode," Taiwan's Economy Minister Kuo-Jyh-Huei said.
'Judicial investigation already underway'
Economy Minister Kuo said that a judicial investigation into the matter was already underway.
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"Guessing from what we know right now, we will try to help this company (Gold Apollo) so that they can come clear about their past dealings. We will help with the investigation, because this has already entered the judicial investigation stage, so we will wait and see what can be discovered," he added.
"I want to unearth the truth, becauseTaiwanhas never exported this particular pager model," Kuo further said and pointed out that Taiwan was asking its missions abroad to raise their security awareness and will exchange relevant information with other countries.
Gold Apollo president questioned by prosecutors
On Thursday night,the president and founder of theTaiwanese company and his local contact for the deal with Hungary-based firm BAC were questioned by prosecutors.
The attacks on Hezbollah's communications equipment on Tuesday and Wednesday killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000, overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking bloody havoc on the militant group.
Citing sources, a report by the news agency Reuters said that the attacks were probably carried out by Israel's spy agency Mossad. However,Israel has not directly commented on the attacks.
(With inputs from agencies)