Jail for traveller over drunken ruckus at Changi Airport that triggered anti-hijack button

SINGAPORE – After drinking an entire 700ml bottle of whiskey, a man went to Changi Airport where he created a ruckus after being barred from boarding his Malaysia-bound flight with budget carrier Scoot.

British national Arudchelvan Karnan, 25, shoved a Scoot employee aside and headed towards the plane via an aerobridge, prompting a security officer to press an anti-hijack button.

An anti-hijack door at the gate to the plane then closed, and Arudchelvan was arrested soon after.

His actions caused the flight’s departure to be delayed by 53 minutes, the court heard.

Arudchelvan was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail and a fine of $2,800 on Sept 2.

He had pleaded guilty to one count each of harassment, public drunkenness and unlawfully entering a protected place.

Court documents stated that he had flown to Singapore from Australia on July 19 and stayed at a Little India hotel.

The next morning, he drank an entire 700ml bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey at the hotel and became drunk.

He later went to Changi Airport Terminal 1, where he passed through the immigration gates and made his way to Gate C17 in the departure hall.

In a seating area near the aerobridge linking Gate C17 to flight TR472, he started shouting loudly, annoying the other passengers.

Some of them told a Scoot employee about the situation, and she approached Arudchelvan, who had his earphones on.

He accused the woman of being a racist and abused her with vulgar language.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Ang told the court that he continued shouting.

“Subsequently, a decision was made to off-board the accused from TR472...At about 4.05pm, all passengers of TR472 except the accused had passed the boarding counter,” he said.

When Arudchelvan approached the counter, another Scoot employee told him that he was not allowed to board the flight.

To prevent him from boarding the flight, she extended a connecting strip across two bollards and stood behind them.

Despite this, he ducked under the strip and headed towards the aerobridge, shoving the woman and causing her to fall.

She alerted a nearby security officer who pressed the anti-hijack button. The latter also requested assistance from the Airport Police Division.

Arudchelvan could not board the flight when the anti-hijack door closed.

When an auxiliary police officer was escorting him away, he launched into an expletive-laden tirade against Singapore and Malaysia, adding: “I want England. Take me to England right now.”

Arudchelvan was arrested thereafter.

On Sept 2, the DPP urged the court to sentence the offender to fines and up to 12 weeks’ jail. He stressed that Arudchelvan had posed a security risk to the passengers of flight TR472, and the officers within a sensitive facility.

Defence lawyer K. Sathinathan pleaded for his client to be fined instead.

He said that there were no records of injuries in this case and there was also no damage to property.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.