8-6-2024 (SINGAPORE) A man’s false claim about a gun being hidden under the bonnet of a taxi entering Singapore via a land checkpoint sparked a security response, leading to his eventual arrest the following day.
The incident began when the 54-year-old man anonymously called the police at around 8:30 pm on June 6, alleging that a gun was concealed under the bonnet of a taxi entering the country through a land checkpoint. He chose to remain anonymous and did not provide his full particulars at the time.
Responding swiftly to the potential threat, the police contacted the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to locate the cab in question. The taxi was eventually stopped at the Woodlands Checkpoint, where a thorough search was conducted.
“After a thorough check, the police concluded that the information provided by the male caller was false,” the authorities stated, confirming the absence of any such threat.
Following the false alarm, the police identified the man responsible for the misleading information and arrested him at 1:10 am on June 7. The 54-year-old is now slated to be charged in court on June 8 with communicating false information about a harmful thing, a serious offense under Singapore’s laws.
If found guilty, he faces a potential jail term of up to seven years, a fine of up to $50,000, or a combination of both punishments.
In a stern warning, the police emphasized their zero-tolerance stance towards such false threats, citing the fear and inconvenience caused to the public and the unnecessary deployment of limited resources to address the fabricated incident.
“The police treat all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who causes public alarm with false threats,” they stated. “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.”
This incident follows two similar cases in recent months, where individuals were charged for providing false information about harmful situations. In May, a 34-year-old man faced charges for allegedly making multiple calls to DBS Bank, threatening to plant a bomb at its headquarters. Additionally, on March 26, a 53-year-old man was charged with communicating false information after sending bomb threats to two Taiwanese politicians via Facebook Messenger.
