Singapore man accused of bomb threats against Taiwanese legislative speaker, 1 other politician

Loo Peng Seng, 53, was charged with making false bomb threats against two politicians, including Taiwan’s legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu

In a Facebook Messenger post sent to the lawmaker, he allegedly threatened ‘to bring a lot of bombs to put in your car or home’, the court heard

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Taiwanese politician Han Kuo-yu, pictured in 2020, was reportedly among those sent bomb threats by the defendant in the case. Photo: AP

Published: 2:02pm, 27 Mar 2024

A 53-year-old man has been remanded at Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health after being charged with making false bomb threats against two politicians, including Taiwan’s legislative speaker.

Loo Peng Seng, a Singaporean, was handed four charges of communicating false, harmful information on Tuesday.

It came after the police said in a statement on Monday evening that they were alerted on March 4 to a case of an alleged bomb threat.

An icon for the Facebook app is seen on a phone screen. Loo’s alleged bomb threats were made via Facebook Messenger, according to court documents. Photo: AP

“A member of the public reported that she came across a post on Facebook by a public figure based overseas which stated that he had received bomb threats from someone claiming to be from Singapore,” said the police. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had no intention or means to carry out his threats.”

According to court documents, Loo allegedly sent a false bomb threat via Facebook Messenger on February 28 to “Han Guo Yu”.

Loo allegedly wrote: “Han Guo Yu, I am going to bring a lot of bombs to put in your car or home.”

Han Kuo-yu, of the Kuomintang party, was last month elected speaker of Taiwan’s legislature. He was a Kuomintang candidate at the January 2020 presidential election but lost to Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party.