Poker Writer
A man made a fake bomb threat against a cruise ship after claiming that he lost around $2,000 gambling at the onboard casino. Neo Hui Ghim, from Singapore, allegedly emailed the bomb threats to Resorts World Cruises.
The threats turned out to be fake, but they still caused a two-hour boarding delay for the 4,000 people who were ready to embark on the subsequent cruise leg departing from the Marine Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore.
In October 2023, on a cruise with his parents from Singapore to Malaysia and back, the then 39-year-old Ghim racked up about $2,000 in gambling debts at the casino. He began gambling after trying to acquire tickets to a concert on the ship, only to be turned away as they were sold out.
Ghim reportedly emailed cruise operations staff the following threat (grammar corrected from translation):
Next time, if I lose again, I’ll make sure the whole cruise is burnt.
And another threatening message in a subsequent email:
Please return my money, or the ship will explode and everyone will be dropped into the sea.
Alleged Sender of Threats Arrested
Members of the Singapore Police Force arrested Ghim within three hours of the bomb threat. They tracked him down easily when he used the same email to send the threats as he had to book the cruise. After receiving the threats, the panicked crew alerted authorities.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority swept through the cruise ship, including cabins, to make sure the bomb threat was an idle one before declaring the ship safe to board.
Strict Singaporean law dictates that Ghim could face jail time up to seven years, a $50,000 fine, or both. He will have to wait a while longer to learn his fate. An initial sentencing date of Sept. 22 has been moved to Oct. 27.
This is yet another cruise ship incident revolving around casino debts. Earlier this month, a Puerto Rican man jumped overboard in an attempt to avoid paying his debts to Royal Caribbean.
