Taiwan prosecutors announced on Thursday that they have questioned four individuals as witnesses in their investigation of a Taiwanese company associated with pagers that exploded in Lebanon, resulting in fatalities.

The specifics of how and when the pagers were weaponized and remotely detonated remain unclear, prompting an investigation involving Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway, and Romania.

Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company, claimed last week that it did not produce the devices used in the attack and that BAC, a Hungary-based firm associated with the pagers, had a license to use its brand. Additionally, Taiwan's government confirmed that the pagers were not manufactured in Taiwan.

A spokesperson for the Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei, which is spearheading the investigation into Gold Apollo, stated that, in addition to two individuals questioned last week, they had also interviewed one current and one former employee as witnesses.

"We are processing this case expeditiously and seeking a resolution as soon as possible," the spokesperson added, declining to disclose the identities of those questioned or to confirm whether additional individuals would be interrogated.
 
Last week, prosecutors interrogated Hsu Ching-kuang, the president and founder of Gold Apollo, along with Teresa Wu, the only employee of a company named Apollo Systems. Gold Apollo has not issued any statements regarding the investigation and did not respond to a subsequent request for comment on Thursday. 

Norway probes links to exploding pagers in Lebanon

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Norway's security police (PST) launched a preliminary investigation into reports linking a Norwegian-owned company to the sale of pagers to Hezbollah that exploded in Lebanon, according to a police lawyer who spoke to Reuters.

Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated in Lebanon on Tuesday, September 17, and Wednesday, September 18, killing at least 39 people and injuring thousands.

Simultaneously, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the treacherous aggression caused by the attack after obtaining results of its probe, as well as examining available data, regarding the pager detonations. 

The timing and method by which the pagers were weaponized to be remotely detonated remain unclear. Taiwan, Hungary, and Bulgaria have also started investigating potential supply chain links.

"PST has initiated a preliminary investigation to determine whether there are reasons for starting a (full) investigation on the basis of allegations in the media that a Norwegian-owned company may have been involved in the dissemination of pagers to Hezbollah," said PST lawyer Haris Hrenovica in a text message to Reuters.

He also told Norwegian news agency NTB that there are no specific suspicions at this time.

Bulgarian authorities have been investigating Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd, after Hungarian media reported the company’s involvement in facilitating the sale of the pagers.

Norta Global was founded in 2022 by Norwegian citizen Rinson Jose, 39, according to Bulgaria’s corporate registry. Jose signed the company’s articles of association at the Bulgarian consulate in Oslo, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

When contacted by Reuters last Wednesday, Jose declined to comment on the pagers and hung up when asked about his Bulgarian business. He did not respond to repeated calls or text messages. On Tuesday, Reuters tried calling him again, but the call was directed to voicemail.

Jose's LinkedIn profile indicates he has been employed by DN Media Group since February 2020, working in the sales department. He left for a conference in Boston on Sept. 17, and last communicated with colleagues via email on Sept. 18, according to Norwegian media. His employer told Reuters they have been unable to reach him since.

This comes shortly after the Hungarian government announced that intelligence services have conducted multiple interviews with the CEO of BAC Consulting, a Budapest-based firm linked to the terrorist Israeli electronic attacks on Lebanon earlier this week.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo stated last Wednesday that the model of pagers used in the detonations in Lebanon was produced by BAC Consulting, claiming that it only licensed its brand to the company and was not involved in manufacturing the devices.

Since the attacks, the CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono has not been seen publicly. Neighbors report not having spotted her, and she has not responded to any calls or emails from Reuters. A visit to her residence in downtown Budapest yielded no response, and her apartment, once accessible, is now closed off.

The Hungarian government confirmed on Saturday that its intelligence services have interviewed Barsony-Arcidiacono several times since the explosions. It classified BAC Consulting as a "trading-intermediary company" without a manufacturing presence in Hungary, claiming that the pagers had never entered the country.

It is worth noting that BAC Consulting's website, which was taken down later in the week, provided little insight into its actual operations in Hungary, and its registered address was listed as a serviced office in a suburban area of Budapest.

Israeli terrorist pager attack plot in the works since 15 yrs

The Israeli occupation was involved in the production of pagers that mass-detonated in the hands of thousands of people in Lebanon, an operation that took over 15 years of planning, ABC News reported on September 20, citing a US intelligence source.

Read more: Snowden calls Israeli pager attack 'Indistinguishable from terrorism'

The firms suspected to have played the key role in the attack are Hungarian-based BAC Consulting, which Taiwan-based producer Gold Apollo says had permission to use its brand - including manufacturing - through a licensing agreement. Another company in Bulgaria is also suspected to have been part of the terrorist operation, yet it was unnamed by the country's authorities.

Related News

Taiwan plans to boost defense spending above 3% of GDP

US Navy drone fleet faces failures in tests to counter China

Sources said that the pagers were rigged with one to two ounces of explosives and equipped with a remote trigger to initiate the explosion.

Despite world countries and leaders expressing horror over the terrorist attack, the main concern among most Israeli officials and experts lies elsewhere.

A former senior Israeli intelligence officer criticized the timing of the detonation, considering it was a "wasted capability that was built to destroy Hezbollah."

Read more: New warfare era: Israelis weaponise consumer goods in terror attacks

"This is no less than a crime," he said, likening it to "shooting an Arrow or David's sling missile at the Independence Day fireworks show."

"This thing should have been saved for the right time," he maintained.

The ABC News source said the planning for the attack utilized shell companies, with multiple tiers of Israeli intelligence agents and their operatives operating under the guise of a legitimate business producing the pagers. The source also claimed that some operatives participating in the work were unaware of who they were working for.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a recent speech that the Israeli goal was to massacre thousands of people simultaneously in the Tuesday and Wednesday terrorist attacks, referring as well to the detonation of rigged two-way radios on Wednesday.

"Not all of the pagers had been distributed and some of them were turned off," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, adding that the Resistance party has launched a comprehensive investigation into the attack

"Over two days [Tuesday and Wednesday], the enemy wanted to kill at least 5,000 people ... The enemy knew that the pager devices numbered 4,000." 

Taiwan, Bulgaria, and Hungary trying to absolve themselves

Two individuals from Taiwanese companies linked to the manufacturing of the booby-trapped electronic devices have been questioned by the island's authorities.

According to Reuters, one of the people questioned was Taipei-based Gold Apollo's president and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang. He was questioned by prosecutors late into the night on Thursday, before being released. The other person was Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo System.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said, "Components used in thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon were not made in Taiwan. The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries."

Read more: UN Security Council to address Israeli pager attacks on Lebanon Friday

"I can say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan," Kuo claimed, adding the case is being investigated by judicial authorities.

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, when asked by reporters if he had contacted the de facto Israeli ambassador to the island to express concern about the issue, responded, "No".

"We are asking our missions abroad to raise their security awareness and will exchange relevant information with other countries," Lin said.

However, a spokesperson for the Shilin District Prosecutors Office said they are still looking into whether any Taiwan-based firm was involved in the terrorist attack.

The spokesperson told Reuters, "We'll seek to determine if there was any possible involvement of these Taiwanese companies as soon as possible, to ensure the safety of the country and its people."

'Indisputable' 24-hour investigation

Less than 24 hours after announcing the launch of an investigation last Thursday, the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security concluded that it "indisputably established" that the pagers used in the terrorist explosions in Lebanon were not imported to, exported from, or produced in Bulgaria.

A spokesperson for the Hungarian government claimed that the pagers were "never" in Hungary, telling the news outlet that the company involved in the terrorist attack was "a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary."

Read more: Exclusive: Hezbollah strike against Glilot base highly successful

“Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said in a post on X.

Hungarian news site Telex reported earlier last week that the shipment of the Israeli-rigged pagers that was handled by the Bulgarian company Norta Global Ltd., while the Hungarian company BAC Consulting Kft. served merely as an intermediary.

Bulgaria being set-up by Hungary?

Similarly, Bulgaria also claimed that the country had nothing to do with the attack.

Bulgarian State Agency for National Security said on Friday that the pagers used in the terrorist explosions in Lebanon were not imported to, exported from, or produced in the country.

Last Thursday, Bulgarian authorities stated that the Interior Ministry and state security services had initiated an investigation into a company's possible connection to the sale of pagers, without naming the company.

Vasil Stefanov MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria responded to the Telex report, saying, "Hungary is looking for a scapegoat to shift the focus of attention away from itself because the probe has reached Hungarian trade intermediaries."

"It is very important to use solely and exclusively the official sources of information and not to speculate at such moments," Stefanov said.