A 20-year-old Singaporean man, Rykes Tan Zhi Kai, posted a photo on his private Instagram account with a caption saying he was about to bomb a plane. He later replied with a supposed automated message claiming he had successfully bombed the plane, using his full name. An anonymous tipoff led to enhanced security screening for three Scoot Boeing Dreamliner flights, causing delays and operational losses. Tan had already left Singapore for Taipei but later pleaded guilty to one count of communicating false information of a harmful thing.
Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.cards interface. Give it a try. SINGAPORE: A 19-year-old Singapore an posted a photo on his private Instagram account saying he was"about to bomb" a plane.
When a friend asked him about it, he replied with a supposed automated message saying he had successfully bombed the plane, using his full name. He later left Singapore for Taipei but an anonymous tipoff to the police led to three flights being delayed because of enhanced security screening. Rykes Tan Zhi Kai, now 20, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of communicating false information of a harmful thing.
On the evening of Jun 7, 2025, he took a photo of himself with a Boeing Dreamliner aircraft operated by Scoot while at a gate hold room at Changi Airport, Terminal 1. The photo, posted with the Instagram Story function, was captioned:"Im about to bomb this plane.
"Tan replied:"This is automated message. Tan Zhi Kai, Rykes have successfully bombed the plane and is unable to contact you from now onwards.
"At about 1am on Jun 8, 2025, the police received information from an anonymous informant about the photo. All Dreamliner aircraft operated by Scoot scheduled to depart Singapore between 12.10am and 1.50am on Jun 8, 2025, were identified for screening.
Three flights were subject to enhanced security screening: TR138 departing from Singapore to Tianjin, China, with an original departing time of 1.30am; TR186 departing from Singapore to Qingdao, China, with an original departing time of 1.45am; and TR720 departing from Singapore to Athens, Greece, with an original departing time of 1.50am. The three flights were delayed and departed at around 3am instead.
As a result, Scoot incurred a total operational loss of about S$1,946 . Meanwhile, Tan had boarded flight TR876 with three companions and departed Singapore at around the time the police received the anonymous information. Tan was arrested on Jun 11, 2025, when he returned to Singapore from Taipei. He later made full restitution to Scoot.
The prosecution urged the court to call for both a probation suitability report and a reformative training suitability report, reserving its sentence until after the reports come in. Deputy Public Prosecutor Xu Sijia said deterrence is necessary in this case and added that Changi Airport was"a critical public infrastructure utilised by vast numbers of local and foreign commuters daily".
Tan's lawyer, Mr Chen Yongxin from Mr Chooi Jing Yen's eponymous law firm, sought to convince the judge not to call for a reformative training suitability report at this juncture. Tan will return to court for mitigation and sentencing at a later date. For communicating false information of a harmful thing, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to S$50,000, or both. Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
False Bomb Threat Instagram Post Flight Delays Scoot Airline Singapore
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