Singaporean man fined $2,700 for posting bomb threat joke at Changi Airport

Azim Shah Abubakar Shah pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening communication that was seen by others and likely to cause alarm, Channel News Asia reported.

The court heard that on Feb. 14 this year, police were alerted by a member of Meta's law enforcement team who detected an Instagram story post with the message: "No one here knows I'm gonna blow the plane up."

The police traced the message to Azim using his phone number and IP address. They determined that he was on board an Etihad Airways flight departing Singapore for Abu Dhabi, The Straits Times reported.

The plane, which was on the runway at Changi Airport, was recalled to Terminal 2, where Azim was escorted off the plane, and his luggage was searched.

Azim later claimed that the post was meant as a joke. His actions caused a delay of over two hours for the flight.

He was arrested on Feb. 15 and later released on bail.

Under Singapore's law, he could have been fined up to S$5,000.