A 22-year-old Singaporean man was fined was fined S$3,500 by a court on Monday, October 6, for one count of making a threatening communication seen by others and likely to cause alarm.
The incident was reported to the police by Meta after Azim Shah Abubakar Shah posted an Instagram story threatening to blow up a plane.
The Etihad Airways flight was delayed while he was probed. As a result, the airline was later required to pay S$1,750 for the late departure.
The court heard that on February 14 of this year, at approximately 7:20 pm, a member of Meta's law enforcement team provided the police with information.
He reported detecting an Instagram story post with the message that read, "No one here knows I'm gonna blow the plane up".
After receiving Azim's IP address and phone number, the police were able to identify Azim and track down the message. They discovered that he was traveling from Singapore to Abu Dhabi on an Etihad Airways flight.
The aircraft was recalled to Terminal 2 while it was on the runway at Changi Airport. After being escorted off the aircraft, Azim's belongings were examined.
He acknowledged that he posted the Instagram story at approximately 6:55 pm. Only 16 of his friends were able to view the story.
However, Azim said that his post was a joke.
His actions caused the flight to be delayed, and it wasn't until approximately 9.25 pm that day that it was cleared to depart.
Azim was taken into custody after midnight on February 15 and subsequently freed on bond.
Given Azim's relative youth, lack of convictions, and early guilty plea, the prosecutor requested a S$4,000 fine for him on Monday.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh, however, stated that there were significant repercussions, pointing to the flight's two-and-a-half-hour delay from the time of the post and the discomfort experienced by the passengers and crew.
Resources were used to confirm the bomb threat, and the airline was also charged for the late departure.
Instead, Mohammad Shafiq of M Shafiq Chambers, Azim's defense attorney, requested a S$1,000 fine. According to him, his client, a member of the Singapore Civil Defense Force, was taking a vacation abroad with his friends.
Mohammad Shafiq said that he posted the statement on Instagram as a misguided "joke" aimed at his group of 16 close friends.
"He did not appreciate that such a post, particularly when he was due to fly shortly, would cause public alarm even if disseminated to a 'closed' group, nor did he appreciate the serious consequences such a post could trigger," said the lawyer, as reported by CNA.
When questioned, he added, Azim immediately acknowledged the post and clarified that it was the result of "banter about his religious identity."
According to Muhammad Shafiq, Azim has acknowledged the gravity of his actions and expressed sincere regret for his error in judgment.
The prosecutor retorted that Azim's actions would not be adequately compensated for by a S$1,000 fine. According to Koh, the fine hardly matches the financial penalty the airline faced.
Even though the airline has refused to pay, he claimed that the fine could fairly represent the expenses.
Azim fully paid the fine.
He might have been fined up to S$5,000 for sending a threatening message that was likely to raise alarm.
