This story gets a little crazy. In a bid to get a one-way ticket to either jail or the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), a severely mentally ill man told the police that he wanted to join the Islamic State and bomb Singapore.
37-year-old Lee Soo Liang — who has a history of depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — made the hollow threat in the hopes that he would be reunited with his mother and former girlfriend, both current residents at IMH.
Channel NewsAsia reports that Lee had made the call to police on Nov 15 last year, despite not having any connections to ISIS or any knowledge of explosives. He made the call from Simei Care Centre, a residential facility that provides rehabilitation services to folks with psychiatric disabilities.
To aid the police in their arrest, he even provided his name, address and room number at the centre. When seven police officers arrived to arrest him, he didn’t even resist.
Lee had been initially charged for making a false threat of a terrorist act, but it was later reduced to one of transmitting false message to the police, considering his long history of psychiatric illness. The prosecution noted that he “had absolutely no intention to join ISIS or bomb Singapore”.
Instead of a heavy penalty for making a false bomb threat, Lee was ordered by the court to undergo 24 months of mandatory treatment for his multiple mental conditions. If he is indeed getting treatment at IMH, then hey — he got what he wanted.
