Singapore hit by bomb hoaxes

SINGAPORE – A 34-year-old man has been arrested in Singapore over an online threat to bomb several locations in the city-state in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon attack, police said Saturday, April 20.

The man, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, was arrested on Thursday after posting the threat as a comment on a news article about the deadly bombings in Boston, police said in a statement.

“Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspect had no intention or means to carry out his threats,” said the statement.

Local daily The Straits Times reported the man had posted the comment on the Yahoo! Singapore website.

Fines, jail

Making bomb threats in Singapore is an offense punishable by a maximum of five years in jail or a fine of up to US$82,000, or both.

Separately, police said they were investigating a threat to bomb the Singapore Marathon in December, with no arrests made so far.

The police statement said authorities took a serious view of anyone who “capitalises on recent security concerns” to alarm the public with bomb hoaxes, and would spare no effort to track down those responsible.

Earlier Saturday, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane carrying 280 passengers from Manila was inspected by police due to what the carrier called a “potential security incident”.

Passengers were allowed to leave at around 3:00 am (1900 GMT), four hours after landing in Singapore’s Changi Airport. Police said no arrests were made and declined to give any specifics of the case, but sources familiar with the incident told AFP it was the result of a bomb hoax.

US police on Friday captured an ethnic Chechen teenager suspected of staging the Boston Marathon bombings — which killed three people and left around 180 wounded — following a manhunt in the wake of a gun battle overnight in which his alleged accomplice brother was killed. – Rappler.com