The president and founder of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-kuang, has denied his company’s involvement in the deadly attack in Lebanon. This attack, which utilized pagers to detonate explosives, resulted in the deaths of nine individuals and injuries to nearly 3,000. Hsu stated that Gold Apollo did not manufacture the pagers, claiming that they were produced by a Budapest-based company, BAC, which holds a license to use Gold Apollo’s brand.
Images of the destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters revealed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. Despite this, Hsu declined to answer reporters’ questions when leaving the Taipei offices of Taiwan prosecutors. The prosecutors have not released any statements regarding their investigation into Gold Apollo.
Another individual seen leaving the prosecutor’s office was Teresa Wu, the sole employee of Apollo Systems Ltd. Wu, who remained silent to reporters, was identified by Hsu as one of his contacts for the deal with BAC, the Hungarian firm. Company records show that Apollo Systems was established by Wu in April of this year. The relationship between Wu’s company and BAC remains unclear.
Taiwan’s government has launched an investigation into the incident, and police have conducted several visits to Hsu’s company, located in a small office in New Taipei. The Lebanese government has blamed Hezbollah, a powerful militia backed by Iran, for the attack, claiming that members of the group were using the pagers. However, a senior Lebanese security source and another source have accused Israel’s Mossad spy agency of planting explosives inside the devices.
Hezbollah has vowed retaliation against Israel, which has denied any involvement in the attack. The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October. The situation remains tense as investigations continue and both sides trade accusations.
