A Scoot plane is seen on the runway during the ILA Berlin Air Show in Schoenefeld near Berlin, Germany on Jun 20, 2022. (Photo: AP/Michael Sohn)
Another man who allegedly made a bomb threat onboard a cruise ship berthed at Marina Bay Cruise Centre was also charged in court.
A Scoot plane is seen on the runway during the ILA Berlin Air Show in Schoenefeld near Berlin, Germany on Jun 20, 2022. (Photo: AP/Michael Sohn)
SINGAPORE: An Australian man was charged on Saturday (Oct 14) with making a bomb threat that forced a Scoot flight bound for Perth to turn back to Singapore.
On Oct 12, the police were alerted at about 4.55pm to a bomb threat on board Scoot flight TR16.
During the flight, the man had allegedly informed cabin crew members repeatedly that he was in possession of a bomb, the police said in a press release.
By this time, the plane had already departed Singapore and it had to turn back, under the escort of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) fighter jets, due to the threat.
The plane landed at Changi Airport at about 6.26pm.
"For the safety of all passengers and crew, officers from Airport Police Division and Special Operations Command’s K-9 Unit, were mobilised to investigate the bomb threat," the police said.
"As a result of the additional security measures implemented to ensure the safety of all persons on board flight TR16, there was a delay of more than five hours before the nine crew members and 362 passengers disembarked in Singapore at around 9.19pm."
The flight subsequently departed Singapore to Perth at 11.41pm.
The police arrested the suspect, a 30-year-old Australian man, with the bomb threat found as false. Hawkins Kevin Francis was charged on Saturday with the offence of making false threats of terrorist acts and remanded in the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), according to court documents.
If convicted, he may face a fine of up to S$500,000 (US$364,830), a jail term of up to 10 years, or both. He will return to court on Oct 27.
Under the Tokyo Convention Act 1971, if a crime takes place on a Singapore-controlled aircraft flying outside of the country, the offender can be charged with the offence under Singapore laws.
In a separate case, the police arrested another man who had made an alleged bomb threat onboard a cruise ship berthed at Marina Bay Cruise Centre.
The police were alerted by a cruise operator at about 4.03pm on Oct 13. Police officers worked together with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and security officers from Marina Bay Cruise Centre to conduct extensive security checks on the cruise ship
"No threat items were found onboard the cruise ship," said the authorities.
After follow-up investigations, a 39-year-old man was arrested. Singaporean Neo Hui Ghim was charged in court with communicating false information of a harmful thing on Saturday and also remanded in IMH.
According to court documents, Neo sent an email to Resort World Cruises customer service on Oct 13, which contained "a reference to the presence of a thing that is likely to cause hurt, or damage to a cruise ship ... and knowing such a reference is false".
The header of the email read "Bomb at Resorts World cruises", while the rest of the email read "please return me back my monies else the ship will explode and everyone drop into the sea".
If found guilty, Neo may face a fine not exceeding S$50,000, a jail term of up to seven years, or both. He will return to court on Oct 27.
"As a result of the additional security checks on the cruise ship, operations were halted, causing a two-hour delay to the boarding process. An estimated 4,000 passengers were affected," said the police.
"The police treat all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who causes public alarm with false threats.
"Beyond the fear and inconvenience caused to other members of the public, the making of false threats comes at a cost of public resources that have to be deployed to deal with the incident."