British national behind 2005 National Day Parade bomb hoax charged

SINGAPORE — Thirteen years after he allegedly told the authorities that three suicide bombings would take place at the National Day Parade (NDP), a British national was charged in court on Friday (Oct 5) for his purported actions.

Khor Chye Siew is accused of emailing an officer at the then-Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts on July 24, 2005 with a bomb hoax.

The 42-year-old allegedly stated that there would be three suicide bombings during the 40th NDP and that he knew “who and where these crooks are”.

Court documents showed what he wrote in the email: “To Whom It May Concern, I’m writing this mail just to inform (you of) something (that) your country’s Intelligent Service has failed to do, which is to track down 100 (per cent of) the terrorist activities in your country. Kindly take this information seriously or else don’t blame me if something horror & ugly happens.”

Khor added that the authorities had about two weeks to take action.

The police were alerted to the email the day it was sent. Investigations later revealed that the email was sent from an overseas location. Khor was then identified.

On May 26 this year, he was arrested at Changi Airport after flying in from London.

Police investigations also revealed that he sent false information of a terrorist attack to the authorities to cause unnecessary alarm.

Khor is out on S$5,000 bail and has indicated his intention to plead guilty. He will return to court on Oct 19.

If convicted of giving information that he knew to be false to a public servant, he could be jailed up to one year and/or fined up to S$5,000.