Man jailed for false bomb threat at Choa Chu Kang MRT station
Published on Sep 4, 2014 1:23 PM
By Ian Poh
SINGAPORE - A jobless man who made a false bomb threat at an MRT station and caused the wastage of police resources was on Thursday sentenced to eight months' jail.
Imran Othman, 40, told the station master at Choa Chu Kang station, "Bag saya ada bom", Malay for, "There is a bomb in my bag", at 9.50am on Jan 31. He admitted he was joking after the station master responded in a serious manner and then left the station, but was arrested when he returned about four hours later.
Calling for a jail term of at least six months, Deputy Public Prosecutor James Low said that such threats should be taken seriously especially if they concern public transport and safety. He added that considerable resources had been wasted to follow up on the false threat, including the activation of the police K-9 unit and other units to check Choa Chu Kang and other MRT stations. Checks were also done on Imran and his haversack with an explosive detector.
Imran received a further two months in prison for kicking an officer on April 3 in the lock-up zone of Jurong Police Division, and one month for the theft of a $139 jacket from Top Shop at Ion Orchard mall, committed two weeks later.
His total sentence is 10 months' jail, after the court ordered the theft imprisonment term to run concurrently with the other two. For committing criminal intimidation on the MRT station master, he could have been jailed up to two years and fined.
