Taiwan prosecutors say four questioned so far over exploding pagers

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TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan prosecutors said on Thursday that they have so far questioned four people as witnesses in their investigation into a Taiwanese company linked to pagers that detonated last week in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah.

Security sources said Israel was responsible for the pager explosions that raised the stakes in a growing conflict between the two sides. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

How or when the pagers were weaponised and remotely detonated remains a public mystery and the hunt for answers has involved Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway and Romania.

Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said last week it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that Hungary-based company BAC to which the pagers were traced had a licence to use its brand. Taiwan’s government also said the pagers were not made in Taiwan.

A spokesperson for the Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei, which has been leading the probe into Gold Apollo, said in addition to two people questioned last week it had also questioned one current and one former employee as witnesses.

“We are processing this case expeditiously and seeking resolution as soon as possible,” the spokesperson added, declining to name the people questioned or say whether prosecutors planned to question further people.

Last week, prosecutors questioned Gold Apollo’s president and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, and Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo Systems.

Gold Apollo has not commented on that investigation and did not respond to a further request for comment on Thursday.

Reuters has not be able to reach Wu for comment. Neither answered reporter questions last week when they left the prosecutors’ office.

(Reporting by Faith Hung; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing)