Man admits posting fake bomb message on Instagram, delaying three flights at Changi Airport
The hoax caused three Scoot flights to be delayed by at least an hour each, costing the airline almost S$2,000.
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SINGAPORE: A 19-year-old Singaporean posted a photo on his private Instagram account saying he was "about to bomb" a plane.
When a friend asked him about it, he replied with a supposed automated message saying he had successfully bombed the plane, using his full name.
He later left Singapore for Taipei but an anonymous tipoff to the police led to three flights being delayed because of enhanced security screening.
Rykes Tan Zhi Kai, now 20, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Jun 4) to one count of communicating false information of a harmful thing.
THE CASE
Tan was due to board flight TR876 departing from Singapore to Taipei in June 2025.
On the evening of Jun 7, 2025, he took a photo of himself with a Boeing Dreamliner aircraft operated by Scoot while at a gate hold room at Changi Airport, Terminal 1.
At about 11.55pm, he uploaded the photo to his private Instagram account, which had 71 followers.
The photo, posted with the Instagram Story function, was captioned: "Im (sic) about to bomb this plane."
Tan later said this was a joke.
A friend who saw the photo contacted Tan about it.
Tan replied: "This is automated message. Tan Zhi Kai, Rykes have successfully bombed the plane and is unable to contact you from now onwards."
This was also a joke, Tan later said, and it was meant to convey that he had purportedly died.
At about 1am on Jun 8, 2025, the police received information from an anonymous informant about the photo.
All Dreamliner aircraft operated by Scoot scheduled to depart Singapore between 12.10am and 1.50am on Jun 8, 2025, were identified for screening.
Three flights were subject to enhanced security screening: TR138 departing from Singapore to Tianjin, China, with an original departing time of 1.30am; TR186 departing from Singapore to Qingdao, China, with an original departing time of 1.45am; and TR720 departing from Singapore to Athens, Greece, with an original departing time of 1.50am.
The three flights were delayed and departed at around 3am instead. As a result, Scoot incurred a total operational loss of about S$1,946 (US$1,516).
Meanwhile, Tan had boarded flight TR876 with three companions and departed Singapore at around the time the police received the anonymous information.
Tan was arrested on Jun 11, 2025, when he returned to Singapore from Taipei. He later made full restitution to Scoot.
The prosecution urged the court to call for both a probation suitability report and a reformative training suitability report, reserving its sentence until after the reports come in.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Xu Sijia said deterrence is necessary in this case and added that Changi Airport was "a critical public infrastructure utilised by vast numbers of local and foreign commuters daily".
Tan's lawyer, Mr Chen Yongxin from Mr Chooi Jing Yen's eponymous law firm, sought to convince the judge not to call for a reformative training suitability report at this juncture.
However, the judge indicated he would call for both reports.
Tan will return to court for mitigation and sentencing at a later date.
For communicating false information of a harmful thing, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to S$50,000, or both.
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