Taiwan and Bulgaria deny involvement in exploding pagers incident

• The pagers, allegedly sourced from Israel, have left 37 dead and around 3,000 wounded.
• Investigations involve Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway, and Romania.
• Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung stated that the parts in the pagers were not made in Taiwan.

On Friday, authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria denied any involvement in supplying thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday, dealing a deadly blow to Hezbollah. The explosions, along with a second attack on Wednesday involving hand-held radios used by Hezbollah, left 37 people dead and about 3,000 wounded.

The weaponization and remote detonation of the pagers remain a public mystery, with investigations involving Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway, and Romania. Security sources have attributed the pager explosions to Israel, escalating the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. While Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, its alleged involvement has intensified the search for answers.

Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company, stated this week that it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack. The company clarified that the pagers were traced to Hungary-based BAC, which holds a license to use the Gold Apollo brand.

“The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries,” Taiwan’s Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.

When pressed on whether the parts in the pagers that exploded were made in Taiwan, he said, “I can say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan,” adding the case is being investigated by judicial authorities.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung responded with a firm “no” when reporters at parliament asked if he had met with the de facto Israeli ambassador to express concerns about the case.

“We are asking our missions abroad to raise their security awareness and will exchange relevant information with other countries.”

Bulgaria became a focal point for investigations on Thursday after local media reported that Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd. was involved in selling the pagers. However, Bulgaria’s state security agency DANS announced on Friday that it had “indisputably established” that no pagers used in the Lebanon attack were imported to, exported from, or manufactured in Bulgaria. DANS confirmed that neither Norta nor its Norwegian owner had traded, sold, or bought the pagers within Bulgaria’s jurisdiction.

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