Indian-origin Singaporean charged for making false terror threat at church

An Indian-origin Singaporean man was charged on Monday with making a false terrorist threat at a church where all services for the day were cancelled, Channel News Asia reported.

The incident took place on Sunday.

Kokulananthan Mohan, charged with an offence under Regulation 8(2)(a) of the United Nations (Anti-terrorism Measures) Regulations, was arrested after a suspicious item was found at St Joseph's Church along Upper Bukit Timah region, which includes an upmarket residential area.

According to charge sheets, the 26-year-old is accused of placing three cardboard rolls "filled with stone pebbles and sporting protruding red wires, held together using black and yellow adhesive tapes" in the church at about 7.11 am on Sunday.

This was allegedly done with the intention of inducing another person to a false belief that the item was likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that the man had allegedly staged the incident by placing a self-fabricated item which resembled an improvised explosive device within the church premises," the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement on Monday.

"He is believed to have acted alone, and there is currently no evidence to suggest that it was a religiously motivated attack or an act of terror."  He was remanded for three weeks for psychiatric evaluation and will return to court on January 12, according to the Channel report.

When informed that the prosecution sought to have him remanded for medical evaluation, Kokulananthan initially said there was a "miscommunication" as his previous admission to the hospital was alcohol-related, and this issue was resolved.

The judge said that the psychiatric evaluation requested was in view of the investigation officer's observations of Kokulananthan's conduct and behaviour during the arrest and police operations.

Kokulananthan then said that the reason for the behaviour observed by the police was a "lack of sleep" as he works the night shift. The judge said he could explain this to the psychiatrist during the medical evaluation, according to the Channel report. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years' jail, a fine of up to SGD500,000 (USD386,757), or both.