Thursday, February 16, 2012

Teen arrested over online hoax posting on full-time National Serviceman's death

A teenager has been arrested and interrogated by Singapore Police Force (SPF) detectives for his alleged involvement in a hoax posting about a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training incident.

Unclear if the "Chinese youth" reported by Todayonline (see below) is a description that refers to his nationality or race.

You may also like to read:
SPF computer forensics detectives zero in on Internet hoaxes. Click here.

Youth arrested for SAF hoax
04:46 AM Feb 16, 2012
SINGAPORE - A 19-year-old Chinese youth has been arrested by the police for posting an online hoax that a full-time national serviceman was shot dead during a training accident at Sembawang.

He was arrested for an offence of Transmitting a False or Fabricated message under Sec 45(b) of the Telecommunications Act, Cap 323, said a Police spokesperson yesterday. The youth is assisting the police investigations.

A police spokesperson said a report was lodged last Saturday and the Defence Ministry (MINDEF) said yesterday that it had filed the police report following an online hoax on Jan 27.

"MINDEF takes a very serious view of hoaxes that undermine public confidence in the Singapore Armed Forces and cause undue alarm to the public," said Colonel Desmond Tan, MINDEF's director of public affairs in a statement yesterday.

The hoax was posted on Jan 27 on a blog called Temasek Revealed. It also appeared on a Facebook page called Temasek Review. It is understood that both sites are not associated with socio-political website Temasek Review Emeritus.

If convicted of an offence under the Telecommunications Act, he could be jailed up to three years and fined.
URL http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120216-0000048/Youth-arrested-for-SAF-hoax
- END -

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Iranian hit team allegedly arrested for plotting hit on Israeli defence minister and DPM Ehud Barak during the air show. Possibly linked to the shenanigans in Thailand and India. First reported by Kuwaiti papers, with the eye-opening claim that the Mossad are interrogating the hit team with our acquiescence. The story was subsequently denied by us (SPF) and the Israelis. Am I wrong to suspect that even if what was reported did transpire, we'd be denying everything up the ying yang?