A man in Singapore, arrested for making 30 hoax calls about planting a bomb in the DBS Bank headquarters, could get a prison term of up to 7 years, or a fine of SGD 50,000, or both.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) arrested the man on Monday within hours of getting a complaint from DBS; the accused is being charged in court today.
In a media release issued last night, the Singapore Police Force said: “The police have arrested a 34-year-old man for his alleged involvement in a case of communicating false information of harmful thing on 27 May 2024.
“On 27 May 2024 at about 2.10pm, a DBS Bank representative called for the police’s assistance, upon receiving at least 30 calls from a male caller who had allegedly mentioned in some of the calls that he would be planting a bomb within an hour at the DBS Bank’s Headquarters.”
The release said: “Through follow-up investigations, officers from the Bedok Police Division established the identity of the man and arrested him within four hours of the reported bomb threat.”
That these were hoax calls was soon discovered. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had no means to carry out his threat and there were no suspicious items found at the DBS Asia Hub and DBS Asia Central,” said the SPF.
The police stated in the release: “The man will be charged in court on 29 May 2024 with the offence of communicating false information of harmful thing under Section 268A of the Penal Code 1871, punishable with imprisonment for a term of up to seven years, a fine which may extend to $50,000, or both.”
According to the SPF statement: “[Singapore] 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.”
