TAIPEI: Taiwan investigators searched four locations on Thursday (Sep 19) as part of a probe into the origin of pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, authorities said.

It took years, three different shell companies, and an explosive called pentaerythritol tetranitrate, according to reports.

Israel's Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.