Alarming hoax leads to arrest
By Joanne Chan | Posted: 26 May 2011 2235 hrs
SINGAPORE: A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly posting an alarming hoax message on an Internet forum.
In the message posted on Thursday, the sender wrote that an F-16 jet had crashed at the Ubi/Eunos Link area and there were many casualties.
A netizen reported the incident to the police at 12.20pm.
After confirming that the message was a hoax, the police conducted an investigation and arrested the suspect at about 8pm at his home at Bedok Reservoir Road.
A desktop computer was also seized from his house.
If found guilty, the suspect can be jailed up to three years, fined or both.
Central Police Division commander Tan Hung Hooi said the police take a serious view of such irresponsible Internet postings that could cause public alarm and will spare no effort to track the perpetrators and take them to task.
-CNA/wk
