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LoginPrank Caller Claims To Be Escaped Terrorist
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The Straits Times – 1 Mar 08
A man has been arrested for making a prank call to the police claiming to be escaped terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari.
The 58-year-old used a public phone in Haig road to call the police emergency line 999 on Thursday evening, saying he was the former Jemaah Islamiah leader.
During the call, he even made threats to attack “multiple locations”, the police said.
Within minutes, the police traced the call to a public telephone at Block 10, Haig Road, and arrested the man under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations.
These regulations came into effect here in 2001 after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United State to prosecute people who stoke fears of terrorist attacks by raising false alarms.
In January this year, a civil servant was sentenced to 30 months’ jail for sending hoax bomb messages to government websites.
The Naitonal Environment Agency’s senior manager, Neo Khoon Sing, 38, sent three e-mail messages warning of possible terrorist attacks in Bedok and against Cabinet ministers.
The maximum penalty for this offence is a fine of up to S$100,000, or a prison term of up to five years, or both.
The telecommunication Act also provides harsh punishment for hoax calls: a maximum fine of up to S$50,000 and a jail term of up to seven years.
The police urged the public not to make prank calls as they “tax the police’s resources unnecessarily”.
This hoax call on Mas Selamat is the first since he escaped from the Internal Security Department’s detention centre off Whitley Road on Wednesday afternoon.
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We have to note that:
United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations came into effect in Singapore in 2001 after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United State to prosecute people who stoke fears of terrorist attacks by raising false alarms.
The maximum penalty for this offence is a fine of up to S$100,000, or a prison term of up to five years, or both.
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The police has noted that people were worried about getting into trouble for reporting an apparent lead that turns out to be a dud, said : “As long as the reports were made in good faith, nothing will happen to the person who made the report. Nothing is too minor for us to follow up on.”
The police also reiterated their call for the public to report sightings and minor cases of theft, especially of cloths, money or food.
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