'I thought someone important just arrived': Woman reveals what went down inside SIA plane after bomb scare

While fighter jets were scrambled in the wee hours of Wednesday (Sept 28), a passenger on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ33 had no idea it was due to a chilling bomb threat.

Twitter user Veratheape, who was on the flight from San Francisco, shared that she initially thought that the fighter jet escorts were due to the arrival of an "important person".

Posting pictures of the fighter jets and a man in handcuffs, Veratheape said: "This guy yelled at the back of airplane saying there is a bomb. Four hours delay because of this guy and he got arrested."

The woman also shared a photo of a gift from Singapore Airlines for all the trouble – a travel pillow.

[embed]https://twitter.com/veratheape/status/1574948468149620736/[/embed]

Taking to Facebook, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) shared that teams from the army's Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defence Group and Airport Police Division were also on site to verify the bomb threat.

"The threat was subsequently verified to be false, and the suspicious person has been arrested," the ministry added.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/mindefsg/posts/pfbid03E7HDjjVAADdVm9hx3rYe3zF51kzsvZioZRTErHcSBBUeq5bKSM2SuTyWF7TThgEl?__cft__[0]=AZWBy[/embed]

The police confirmed that a 37-year-old passenger was arrested when the plane landed at Changi Airport at about 5.50am after they were informed of the bomb threat three hours ago.

Adding that the man had also assaulted the crew, the police said: "He was restrained by the crew, and subsequently arrested by the police under Regulation 8(1) of the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations and for suspected consumption of controlled drugs. Police investigations are ongoing."

AsiaOne has contacted Veratheape for more information.

chingshijie@asiaone.com