Bomb threats on cruise ship and Scoot plane: 2 men charged for separate incidents, including Australian

Two men were charged on Saturday (Oct 14) for separate incidents involving a bomb threat, one on a cruise ship and the other on a Scoot flight.

The police were alerted on Friday at 4.03pm by a cruise operator to an alleged bomb threat onboard a cruise ship berthed at Marina Bay Cruise Centre.

Together with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and security officers from Marina Bay Cruise Centre, they conducted extensive security checks on the cruise ship. No threat items were found onboard.

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. 

Through follow-up investigations, officers from Central Police Division swiftly established the identity of the suspect and arrested a 39-year-old man within three hours of the reported bomb threat.

Neo Hui Ghim was charged for the offence of communicating false information of a harmful thing, which carries an imprisonment term of up to seven years, a fine which may extend to $50,000, or both. 

He allegedly sent an e-mail with the header “Bomb at Resorts World Cruises” to Resorts World Cruises’ customer service department, reported The Straits Times.

According to court documents, Neo wrote to the cruise operator: “Please return me back my monies else the ship will explode and everyone dropped into the sea”.

In the other incident, the police were alerted on Thursday at about 4.55pm to a case of an alleged bomb threat on board flight Scoot TR16 from Singapore to Perth.

Preliminary investigations revealed that during the flight, the man had allegedly informed cabin crew members repeatedly that he was in possession of a bomb.

By this time, the plane had departed Singapore.

As a result of the threat, the plane had to turn back to Singapore, under the escort of two Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter aircrafts.

The plane landed safely in Changi Airport at about 6.26pm. Officers from Airport Police Division and Special Operations Command’s K-9 Unit, were mobilised to investigate the bomb threat.

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 bomb threat was found to be false and a 30-year-old Australian male passenger was arrested for his alleged involvement in the incident.

He had allegedly uttered “I have a bomb” to one cabin crew member and uttered the word “bomb” repeatedly to another, according to court documents.

On Saturday, Hawkins Kevin Francis was charged with making false threats of terrorist acts under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations 2001, read with 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. Those found guilty may be liable to an imprisonment term of up to 10 years, a fine up to $500,000, or both.

The police said in a statement: "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."