One joke, ruined his trip 🤥
A 22-year-old Singaporean man posted a story on Instagram about blowing up a plane, which led to a flight delay of over two hours and a S$3,500 fine.
How It All Started
On February 14, at about 6:55 p.m., the man, Azim Shah Abubakar Shah, posted an Instagram story that said, “No one here knows I’m gonna blow the plane up.” He was on an Etihad Airways flight that was just about to leave Changi Airport for Abu Dhabi.
The social media platform, Meta, actually flagged the post and reported it to the police. They gave the police Azim’s phone number and IP address, which helped them figure out he was on the plane.
The Consequences
The plane, which was already on the runway, had to turn back to Terminal 2. Azim was escorted off the plane, and his bags were searched. He told the police that his post was just a “joke” meant for his 16 friends who could see his Instagram story.
The whole thing caused a huge delay. The flight was supposed to leave at 6:55 p.m., but didn’t take off until around 9:25 p.m. The airline even had to pay a late departure fee of S$1,750.
Azim’s lawyer tried to get him a lighter fine, saying that his client, a national serviceman with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, was just on vacation with friends and didn’t realize how serious his “joke” was. His lawyer, Mr. Mohammad Shafiq, said Azim “did not appreciate that such a post, particularly when he was due to fly shortly, would cause public alarm even if disseminated to a ‘closed’ group.”
However, the prosecutor pointed out that the joke caused a lot of trouble for everyone on board, and also made a big hassle for the airport and the airline. The prosecutor also said that a smaller fine wouldn’t even cover the fee the airline had to pay.
In the end, Azim admitted he was guilty and had to pay the S$3,500 fine right away. He could have been fined up to S$5,000 for making a threatening comment that was likely to cause alarm.
