Singaporean man nabbed for allegedly faking bomb threat at Don Mueang
Flight FD 3114, with 162 passengers and six crew members, was preparing to take off to Hat Yai
Thai Immigration Police on Friday arrested a Singaporean man for allegedly falsely reporting an explosive on an aircraft at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok.
Ho Wai Chong was arrested at the passenger terminal of the airport on Friday evening. He was also found to have overstayed his visa by 28 days, police told a press event on Saturday.
Police said an airport official received an anonymous telephone call on Thursday at 2.47pm, claiming that there was an explosive on an AirAsia plane departing to Hat Yai, Songkhla province.
Investigators found that flight FD 3114, with 162 passengers and six crew members, was preparing to take off to Hat Yai. The airport promptly stopped the take-off, evacuated the passengers, and brought the plane back to its bay for inspection.
After finding no suspicious object on the plane or among passengers, officials called off the emergency situation at 7.30pm. The incident severely affected the airport’s flight schedule and passengers’ travel, an airport official said.
Police on Friday tracked down the phone number and found that the caller was still at Don Mueang. They arrested Ho at the passenger terminal at around 7pm.
The suspect reportedly confessed that he made the call because he was under stress due to a family problem. He was sent to Don Mueang police station to be charged with overstaying in the kingdom.
Police said they are investigating and would consider filing more charges that are applicable. The suspect could also be sued by the airport, the airline, and affected passengers for damages, police added.
Further investigation found that Ho has entered Thailand several times using an APEC card, and that he has no prior criminal record.
The 2015 Act on Certain Offences against Air Navigation stipulates that any person who communicates information he or she knows to be false, thereby causing persons in an airport or on board an aircraft in flight to be frightened, endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight, shall face imprisonment up to 15 years, or a fine up to 600,000 baht, or both.
