An ambulance arrives to American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/ File Photo
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Components used in thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon were not made in Taiwan, Taiwan's economy minister said on Friday.
Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that they were made by a Budapest-based company BAC which has a license to use its brand.
"The components are low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters.
When he was 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.
Gold Apollo's president and founder was questioned by prosecutors late into the night on Thursday, then released.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christopher Cushing)
