SINGAPORE — A 20‑year‑old Singaporean admitted in court that he posted a fake bomb threat on Instagram, triggering enhanced security checks that delayed three Scoot flights by more than an hour each.
Rykes Tan Zhi Kai, who was 19 at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty today to one count of communicating false information of a harmful thing, according to CNA.
He uploaded a photo of himself with a Scoot Boeing Dreamliner at Changi Airport in June 2025 and captioned it “Im [sic] about to bomb this plane,” a message he later described as a joke.
He also replied to a friend with the line “This is automated message. Tan Zhi Kai, Rykes have successfully bombed the plane and is unable to contact you from now onwards,” which he said was another joke meant to imply he had died.
Police received an anonymous tip about the Instagram Story at around 1am on June 8, 2025.
Security teams identified all Scoot Dreamliner flights scheduled to depart between 12.10am and 1.50am for screening.
Three flights — TR138 to Tianjin, TR186 to Qingdao and TR720 to Athens — underwent enhanced checks and eventually departed at about 3am.
Scoot incurred operational losses of about S$1,946 (RM6,903) as a result of the delays.
Tan had already boarded flight TR876 to Taipei with three companions around the time the police received the information.
He was arrested on June 11, 2025, when he returned to Singapore.
Tan later made full restitution to the airline.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Xu Sijia told the court that deterrence was necessary because Changi Airport was “a critical public infrastructure utilised by vast numbers of local and foreign commuters daily.”
The prosecution asked the court to call for both a probation suitability report and a reformative training suitability report.
Tan’s lawyer argued against calling for the reformative training report at this stage.
The judge decided to call for both reports before sentencing.
Tan will return to court for mitigation and sentencing at a later date.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail, a fine of up to S$50,000, or both.
