PUBLISHED ONSeptember 04, 2026 1:00 AMBYLaili AbdeenAfter downing an entire 700ml bottle of whiskey, a drunken British man triggered an anti-hijack alarm at Changi Airport and delayed a Scoot flight by 53 minutes after forcing his way towards the aircraft when he was denied boarding.
Arudchelvan Karnan, 25, was sentenced to eight weeks' jail and fined $2,800 on Wednesday (Sept 2).
He pleaded guilty to a harassment charge, a public drunkenness charge and one count of unlawfully entering a protected place.
Court documents obtained by AsiaOne stated he had flown down from Sydney, Australia, on July 19 and stayed at a hotel in Little India for the night before his flight to Malaysia the next day.
At about 9am the next morning, Arudchelvan drank an entire 700ml bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey at his hotel and became drunk before heading to the airport.
By 3.30pm, he had arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 1, cleared immigration and proceeded to Gate C17 in the departure hall to board his flight.
He began talking and shouting loudly at the boarding gate, annoying other passengers. Two passenges informed a Scoot employee about his behaviour and she approached Arudchelvan, who had his earphones on.
He verbally abused the employee with vulgarities and accused her of being a racist, before he continued shouting to himself.
Arudchelvan approached the counter but another Scoot employee informed him that he was not allowed to board the flight. She extended a connecting strip across two bollards and stood behind them to prevent him from boarding the flight.
However, he ducked under the strip and headed towards the aerobridge, pushing the employee and causing her to fall.
The employee alerted a nearby security officer who pressed the anti-hijack button and requested assistance from the Airport Police Division.
Arudchelvan was unable to board the flight after the anti-hijack door closed.
He was escorted away by an auxiliary police officer, during which he began ranting with vulgarities about Singapore and Malaysia, adding that he wanted to return to England.
"I want England. Take me to England right now," he shouted towards the officer.
Arudchelvan was arrested thereafter and the Health Sciences Authority found 62mg/100ml of ethanol in his blood specimen.
The DPP sought to sentence him to fines and up to 12 weeks' jail, stressing that Arudchelvan had posed a security risk to the passengers of Flight TR472 and the officers within a sensitive facility.
He added that Arudchelvan's actions caused significant disruption to the passengers of TR472 and even prevented a passenger from boarding the flight during the time as he was stranded at the aerobridge after the anti-hijack button had been pressed.
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