Taiwan Investigates A Series Of Pager Explosions In Lebanon

UNSPLASH/Corey Willett ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Taiwan's security service is investigating a case of an explosion of the quarantine/pager that occurred in Lebanon allegedly linked to local company Gold Apollo, Taiwan's Head of Department of Defense Wellington Koo said.

"Taiwan's security service is currently investigating this issue and taking it seriously. The Department of Defense is not involved in this case," Wellington said as quoted by Radio Taiwan International as saying by ANTARA from Sputnik-OANA, Thursday, September 19.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Sun Li-fang, said the ministry had no explanation for Gold Apollo's actions.

On Tuesday, September 17, the pager explosion occurred in various parts of Lebanon.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported the explosion killed 12 people and injured up to 2,800 people.

Reuters on Wednesday (18/9) reported Israel's intelligence agency Mossad had planted a small amount of explosives within 5,000 guarantees ordered by Lebanese group Hezbollah from Gold Apollo.

However, the CEO of Gold Apollo claimed the exploding pager had nothing to do with the Taiwanese manufacturer, but was produced and developed by the BAC Consulting KFT, a Hungarian company under a Gold Apollo license.

At the same time, the Hungarian company told RIA Novosti it had provided business consulting services and was not involved in the production of its pagers.

The media reported that the pager that Hezbollah often uses is the most powerful secret communication system against hacking.

Until now, the cause of the explosion is still unknown. Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities accused Israel of being responsible for the incident.