Fighter jets rushed to escort a Singapore Airlines plane as it came in to land in Singapore yesterday, after a passenger allegedly claimed to have a bomb in his hand luggage.
The threat, made onboard flight SQ33 from San Francisco on Wednesday, was later found to be a hoax.
The 37-year-old man accused of making the bomb threat has been arrested and police are continuing their investigations, said Singapore’s Defence Ministry.
The plane landed at Singapore’s international airport, Changi, in the early hours of Wednesday (28 September) after being escorted by two fighter jets belonging to the city-state’s air force.
At about 2.40am Singapore time, more than 12 hours after take-off, Singaporean police were alerted to the bomb threat by the flight crew, said the Defence Ministry.
Onboard the plane, the suspect was restrained by staff after assaulting cabin crew members, Singapore police said in a statement.
He was later arrested under anti-terrorism measures and for suspected drug consumption.
After the flight landed at 5.50am local time, the plane was taxied to a remote bay for security checks and was later towed to the terminal.
Singapore’s Defence Ministry said: “Teams from Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defence Group and Airport Police Division were on site to verify the claims.”
All other passengers and crew were able to disembark the aircraft at 9.20am local time, said a Singapore Airlines spokesperson.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force confirmed that two of its F16C/D fighter jets were “activated” to respond to the incident.
It added: “Our fighters escorted the airliner till it landed safely at Changi Airport.”
Last week Singapore Airlines was named the world’s second best airline in Skytrax’s 2022 World Airline Awards, which rank the top carrier based on thousands of customer surveys.
Singapore scooped nine awards in total at the event, with their staff being named best cabin crew.
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