Singapore Airlines Passenger Claims Bring Bombing: F-16 Fighter Jet Dikawal Aircraft, Directly Detained At Landing

Illustration of Singapore Airlines fleet. (Wikimedia Commons/ken H)

JAKARTA - Police arrested a 37-year-old man on a Singapore Airlines flight after he allegedly attacked the cabin crew and claimed to have a bomb in his gossip bag, police said on Wednesday.

Cansir CNA 28 September, polisi mengatakan pada pukul 2.40 pagi ada dugaan ancamanbom di pesawat SQ33 dari San Francisco ke Singapura.

The man was detained by a crew, and the police later arrested him for making false threats to terrorist acts, as well as for allegedly taking illegal drugs.

Singapore Airlines said the 'naughty' passengers allegedly 'attacked' the cabin crew.

The plane landed safely at Changi Airport at around 05.50, under the escort of the Singapore Republic's F-16C/D fighter jets, police said.

The plane then rushed into a remote bay for security checks and passengers were handed over to airport police, Singapore Airlines said.

After the security check is complete, the plane is pulled to Terminal 3.

Data from the Flightradar24 air traffic tracking site shows the plane rotated before dropping to Singapore. There was no delay in arrival, with flight time recorded 16 hours and 25 minutes.

Personnel from the Airport Police Division and the Chemical, Biological, Radiology and Explosives Defense Group were at the scene investigating passenger claims, the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The bomb threat was later verified as fake, MINDEF said.

All passengers and crew disembarked normally at 09.20, the airline said.

"Singapore Airlines apologizes to all affected customers for the inconvenience caused by this incident. We are assisting our customers with reorders for the next connection they may have missed," the airline said in the announcement.

"We assist the authorities with their investigation and regret that we were unable to provide further details," the airline continued.

Related to this, the police are conducting an investigation.