Man, 53, charged with making bomb threats, including to Taiwanese politician; remanded in IMH
SINGAPORE: A 53-year-old man was on Tuesday (Mar 26) remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) after being charged with making false bomb threats to two people, including a public figure in Taiwan.
Loo Peng Seng, a Singaporean, was handed four charges of communicating false information of a harmful thing.
This comes after the police said in a statement on Monday evening that they were alerted on Mar 4 to a case of an alleged bomb threat.
“A member of the public reported that she came across a post on Facebook by a public figure based overseas which stated that he had received bomb threats from someone claiming to be from Singapore,” said the police.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had no intention or means to carry out his threats.”
"GOING TO BRING A LOT OF BOMBS TO PUT IN YOUR CAR"
According to court documents, Loo allegedly sent a false bomb threat via Facebook Messenger on Feb 28, 2024 to a Han Guo Yu.
Loo allegedly wrote: “Han Guo Yu, I am going to bring a lot of bombs to put in your car or home”.
Later that day, he allegedly sent a false bomb threat to a public figure based in Taiwan, Mr Lo Chih-Chiang, via the same social media platform, writing that he would “use the bombs to blow you up to pieces”.
The next day, Loo allegedly sent another message to Mr Han, saying that he was “going to make sure [he] will also blow you up your family members with car bombs”.
Loo was also accused of sending another false threat on Mar 1 to Mr Lo.
“Mr Lo Chih Chiang, I am going to bomb your home. And I have a lot of bombs to bomb the Legislative Yuan building,” he wrote. This refers to Taiwan's main legislative building.
Court documents did not state if they were referring to the Taiwanese politician of the same name, Kuomintang member Lo Chih-Chiang.
However, that Mr Lo put up a post on Facebook on Mar 2, stating that he had received a bomb threat.
He also uploaded screenshots of texts he received from a "Spencer Lui" via Facebook Messenger on Feb 29 and Mar 1, containing similar threats as stated in Loo’s court documents.
The dates in the screenshot also correspond with the dates stated in the court documents of when Loo sent out his threats.
Loo’s case is scheduled to be mentioned in court again on Apr 9.If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined not more than S$50,000 (US$37,200), or both.
This article was originally published in TODAY.Â