Taiwan said on Monday it had closed an investigation into the without finding evidence of any involvement of Taiwanese firms or individuals.
Security sources had previously said the pagers bore the name of Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company.
More than 40 people, including at least 12 civilians, were killed and more than 3,000 wounded in the incident, in which in what is widely believed to be an operation by Israel’s intelligence agency.
What did prosecutors say?
The Taiwanese prosecutors said in a statement that the AR-924 pager model that exploded in Lebanon was manufactured, traded and shipped by a firm called Frontier Group Entity, and made outside of Taiwan.
Gold Apollo had, however, authorized the company to use its trademark, they said.
“There is no evidence indicating that any domestic manufacturers or individuals were accomplices in the relevant explosions, violating the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, or engaging in other illegal activities,” the statement said.
“No concrete evidence of criminal activity has been discovered in this case, nor have any specific individuals been implicated in any criminal activity, following a comprehensive investigation,” it added.
Gold Apollo has always denied producing the devices.
Controversial attack method
Using pagers as a method of attack has been criticized by rights groups as being too indiscriminate to comply with international conventions on legitimate warfare, as the possible victims could not be identified in advance as militants or civilians.
Several children were among those injured in the incident on September 17, which was followed by walkie-talkie explosions on September 18.
The explosions came shortly before Israel began a ground offensive in against , which has been carrying out strikes against Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, over the past year.
since the militant Palestinian group raided southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 people hostage.
tj/wmr (AFP, Reuters)
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