A thirty-nine-year-old local man was charged in court yesterday over a bomb hoax that brought the Gadong commercial area to a standstill last Monday.

No plea was taken from Awangku Ariffin bin Pengiran Mohammed as DPP Aiman Zakaria informed the court that further investigations needed to be done in the case, especially inquiries on the defendant's mental state.

Senior Magistrate Lailatul Zubaidah binti Hussain ordered the defendant remanded to assist in the investigations at the Central Police Station and to appear again in court on July 20, 2016.

The defendant allegedly called the emergency hotline 993, transmitting a message which he knew to be false or fabricated, alleging the presence of a bomb in the vicinity of a popular supermarket in Gadong at 11am on July 11, 2016.

The penalty carried by the charge under Section 45 (a) of the Telecommunications Order 2001 is a fine not exceeding $50,000, maximum imprisonment of seven years, or both.

Police and emergency response teams moved in to Gadong on that day, sealing it off from visitors and evacuating the public as they tried to locate the bomb following the report.

Hours later the Gadong commercial area was re-opened after the emergency response team found no threat of a bomb.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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