Teenage girl arrested over bomb hoax that forced Xinmin Secondary School evacuation
Police investigations are ongoing.
Police vehicles parked at Xinmin Secondary School on Aug 13, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Ang Hwee Min)
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SINGAPORE: A 15-year-old girl has been arrested in connection with a bomb hoax at Xinmin Secondary School last week, CNA understands.
The police confirmed the arrest on Tuesday (Aug 18), but provided no further details about the suspect.
"Police investigations are ongoing," they said.
Students and staff members at the Hougang school were briefly evacuated last Thursday morning following a "potential bomb threat”. Xinmin Secondary said that it immediately contacted the police upon learning of the potential threat.
No suspicious items were found by authorities after the school’s premises were checked and regular lessons resumed later that day.
The police then said that they were investigating the incident as a case of communicating false information of a harmful thing.
Anyone convicted of communicating false information of a harmful thing may face up to seven years' jail, a fine of up to S$50,000 (US$39,000) or both. Cases involving offenders under 18 are typically dealt with in the Youth Courts.
"CAUGHT US REALLY OFF GUARD"
A Secondary 4 student told reporters last Thursday that an announcement was made over the PA system at about 8.30am.
All students were evacuated to the field, where Xinmin Secondary's principal told them it was because of a bomb threat, she said.
"It was a bit sudden ... It caught us really off guard. Some of them were still having exams," she added.
Parents who spoke to CNA expressed shock at the incident. "I never imagined such an incident happening in Singapore schools," said Mr Cheng, whose child studies at Xinmin Secondary.
Mr Albert Hooi, another parent, said he heard police sirens after 8am. He was alerted about the incident at about 10am through Parents Gateway, an app used by schools to communicate with parents.
"I was feeling very confident that I think the school has followed the safety protocol. Of course, this is all very new to us, very scared as well, but I think the school has done the right thing," he said.
The school handled the incident very professionally and made the right call to make sure everything was in order before informing parents, said Mr Hooi, who is the father of a 15-year-old child.
"Imagine if all the parents were rushing in, then we’d get a lot more problems. I’m just happy that everything went well," he added.
The bomb hoax came four years after a similar incident at Evergreen Secondary School in Woodlands. Even though the threat was determined to be false, such security threats should still be taken seriously, the Ministry of Home Affairs then said.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that cases involving offenders under 16 are typically dealt with in the Youth Courts. The age threshold is 18. We apologise for the error.
