Youth fined $3500 for posting bomb threat ‘joke’ on Instagram from plane at Changi

SINGAPORE – While waiting for take-off on a plane that was departing Singapore for Abu Dhabi, a young man posted on his Instagram account: “No one here knows I’m gonna blow the plane up.” Azim Shah Abubakar Shah, 22, later said it was a joke, but the damage was done as the message caused the flight to be recalled from the runway and delayed for over two hours. On Oct 6, Azim was fined $3,500 after he pleaded guilty to one count of making threatening communication likely to cause alar m . Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh told the court that Azim posted the Instagram story with the bomb threat on Feb 14 at about 6.55pm. It could be viewed by only 16 of his friends. At about 7.20pm, the police received information from a law enforcement team member at Meta, the company that owns Instagram, reporting that he had detected Azim’s threat. The police traced the message to Azim and determined that he was on board Etihad Airways Flight EY499 bound for Abu Dhabi and the plane was still on the runway at Changi Airport. The flight was recalled to Terminal 2, while Azim was escorted from the plane
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