Singapore's air force sent two F-15 fighter jets to escort an incoming passenger plane over a bomb threat which turned out to be a hoax, allegedly triggered by a 13-year-old boy, media reports said on Monday. There were 144 passengers and six crew members on board Scoot flight TR385 from Cebu in the Philippines on Sunday when police were alerted to a security threat, a Scoot spokesman said.
"Two The Republic of Singapore Air Force's F-15SGs scrambled to escort an inbound FlyScoot plane from Cebu after a bomb scare, but it turned out, after investigations, to be a false alarm," said Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen.
"The Singapore Armed Forces takes every threat as real and seriously, until proven otherwise. The RSAF will stay ever vigilant," he was quoted as saying by Singapore-based news portal AsiaOne.
A 13-year-old unidentified male passenger was allegedly behind the hoax, according to local media outlets. He is currently assisting police with their investigations, said the reports, the BBC reported.
All 144 passengers and six crew disembarked normally, and were subjected to security checks upon arrival. The airline would cooperate fully with the authorities in their investigations, the spokesman said.
On March 26, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Mumbai landed safely at Changi Airport after the pilot raised a bomb threat alert. A woman and child were held back for questioning by the police.
In October last year, a 41-year-old man was fined USD 4,500 after joking that he had a bomb in his bag. He was on a Scoot flight.
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