Raids in Taiwan in probe into origin of Lebanon’s explosive beepers

In Taiwan, the company’s headquarters Gold Apollo and the office of the BAC company Consulting, based in Hungary, were searched on Thursday. Account books, contracts, business details… Taiwanese investigators seized everything that could help understand how the booby-trapped beepers used by Hezbollah militants were designed and placed.

In addition to the raids at four sites, including Gold Apollo’s headquarters, two witnesses, including the company’s founder and chairman, were interrogated late into the night of Thursday, September 18, into Friday, September 19, as part of the investigation into the manufacture and sabotage of Hezbollah beepers that exploded, killing several people and injuring thousands.

“We have asked the National Security Department of the Investigation Bureau to question two witnesses and search four locations,” the Taipei Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Thursday, without naming the locations searched or the people questioned. “They cooperated by providing relevant documents and information,” it said in a statement.

“We will clarify the facts as soon as possible to find out whether Taiwanese companies were involved or not“, the prosecution added.

Gold Apollo denies involvement in beeper manufacturing

The head of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo continues to insist that has authorized BAC Consulting to use its brand to distribute its products but continues to deny any responsibility for the design and manufacture of the booby-trapped beepers.They are not our products (…) from beginning to end,” its director, Hsu Ching-kuang, told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday.

According to him, the devices found in Lebanon are completely different from their own modelsand accuses its business partner of having manufactured them independently. The model of pagers found in Lebanon was clearly visible on the Gold Apollo website until a few days ago. It has since been withdrawn.

The head of Gold Apollo also said he had not suspected anything, but recalled that a payment from BAC Consulting had been blocked by his bank because had been issued by a Middle Eastern bankalthough it had not been alarmed. The Hungarian government has assured that BAC was “a commercial intermediary, without production center or operational in Hungary.”

Asked about the beepers used in Lebanon by Hezbollah, Economic Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said that “we can be sure that they are not produced in Taiwan.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai reaffirmed on Friday that “the company and Taiwan have not directly exported pagers to Lebanon.”