A 41-year-old Singaporean man is to be sentenced for delaying over 4,000 cruise passengers for over two hours while authorities cleared the vessel of a bomb threat.
Neo Hui Ghim had already left the Resorts World Cruises ship after a Singapore-to-Singapore cruise in late 2023 with his parents, but he was carrying a grudge, allegedly triggered by a sold-out concert he had wanted to attend on board.
Neo instead gambled multiple times at the vessel’s casino, reportedly losing S$2,000 ($1,558) in total, according to the Straits Times.
Unbeknownst to the thousands of passengers preparing to board the Resorts World ship at the time, Neo was on a train stewing over the missed concert and his casino loss.
I hope that one day Resorts World Cruises will explode”
Emailed threats to RWC ensued, with Neo demanding his money back and making several threats referencing explosions and arson, including: “I hope that one day Resorts World Cruises will explode and all guests and service personnel will drop into the sea.”
Police, however, soon identified Neo as the culprit because the email address he used to send the threats was the same one with which he booked the cruise.
Neo’s sentencing, originally set for September 22, has been moved to October 27. If found guilty of the charge he confessed to, communicating false information about a harmful situation, courts can jail Neo for a maximum seven years, fine him up to S$50,000 ($38.950), or both.
