An Indian-origin Singaporean man was charged on Monday with making a false terrorist threat at a church in Singapore, an incident that led to the cancellation of all services at the premises for the day, Channel News Asia reported.
The incident occurred on Sunday at St Joseph’s Church in the Upper Bukit Timah area, which includes an upmarket residential neighbourhood.
The accused, Kokulananthan Mohan, was charged under Regulation 8(2)(a) of the United Nations (Anti-terrorism Measures) Regulations after police found a suspicious item inside the church.
According to charge sheets, the 26-year-old allegedly placed three cardboard rolls “filled with stone pebbles and sporting protruding red wires, held together using black and yellow adhesive tapes” at the church around 7.11 am.
This was allegedly done with the intention of inducing a false belief that the item was likely to explode or ignite, thereby causing 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 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.”
Kokulananthan was remanded for three weeks for psychiatric evaluation and will return to court on January 12, according to the Channel report.
When told that the prosecution sought medical evaluation, he said there had been a “miscommunication”, adding that his previous hospital admission was alcohol-related and the matter had been resolved.
The judge said the psychiatric evaluation was sought in view of the investigating officer’s observations of the accused’s conduct and behaviour during 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.