Singapore:
A 46-year-old security guard of Indian origin has been accused of giving false information to an official about the safe disposal of a fake IED used in a simulation exercise which later caused a panic situation in the area, a media report said. .
Durendran Vicknesh Venkatraman was tasked on January 5 to remove an improvised explosive device (IED) used in a simulation exercise conducted that day by a security force at Singapore's Sing Industrial Complex in the Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park, The Straits Times newspaper reported.
However, he failed to do so and the IED was later found abandoned in a public place, causing panic among the people and authorities.
The situation forced authorities to deploy police resources and also deny at least a hundred people access to the premises before it was determined to be a hoax IED, the report said.
“He had to throw away the fake IED after he received a call from the training team,” a senior police official said in the report. When the authorities tried to contact Venkatraman regarding the matter as he was absent for over five hours, upon his return he lied to them that he had renounced it.
Venkatraman's case has been adjourned to April 30. If convicted of providing false information to a public official, he could face up to six months in prison and a fine of up to Singapore dollars 5,000.
For falsifying accounts, an offender can receive a prison sentence of up to ten years and a fine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)