Ilo Ilo director Anthony Chen triggers minor bomb scare at Changi Airport

Acclaimed Singaporean film-maker Anthony Chen caused a minor bomb scare on Wednesday evening (Jan 9), when he absent-mindedly left a bag unattended at Changi Airport's arrival hall for a few hours. 

In an Instagram post on Thursday morning, he wrote that he and his wife had forgotten about the bag containing their baby's toiletries until later that evening.

"We landed at around 5.15pm and my brother came to pick us up. I was pushing the trolley to the driveway and we had so much stuff, my wife forgot about the bag that was left on the row of seats," the Ilo Ilo director told us. 

When Anthony returned to retrieve the bag later that night at about 10pm, he was surprised to find his bag "heavily guarded by three policemen". 

"They ID-ed me and I had to explain why bag was left [there] for so long before opening it for swabbing," wrote Anthony in the post, which he cheekily captioned with the hashtag #SingaporeVerySafe and #firsttimeparents.  

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Suffice to say the London-based 34-year-old, who was returning to Singapore with his wife and four-month-old boy for Chinese New Year, was left "very impressed" by the efficiency of Singapore's men in blue.

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And disaster was averted as the baby got his bathing necessities back. Who knows, this could be new fodder for his next film, maybe?

candicec@sph.com.sg