SINGAPORE – An Australian man who joked about a bomb on board a Singapore airline was fined $6,420 under international anti-terrorism regulations, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Riccardo Paulin, 65, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of raising a false alarm about a terrorist act, The Straits Times reported.
Paulin was looking for space for his hand luggage aboard SilkAir — a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Ltd. — on a flight to Indonesia Saturday when, the newspaper reported, he asked a flight attendant, "Where do you keep the bomb?"
The pilot was informed and Paulin was removed from the plane.
Paulin told the court that his remark was meant as a joke, the newspaper said. He faced a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to five years in jail.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox