HARBIN - Police in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province detained an airplane passenger on Thursday after he claimed to be carrying an explosive, a local official said Friday.

A man surnamed Hou was detained on Thursday for allegedly fabricating a terrorist threat, said Qiu Jian, a Communist Party of China (CPC) official with the Heilongjiang Airport Management Group.

Hou was on Hainan Airlines flight HU7160, which was scheduled to fly from the provincial capital of Harbin to South China's Guangzhou province Wednesday evening.

Hou told a flight attendant that he had a liquid explosive in his carry-on after the attendant tried to put another passenger's luggage in the plane's luggage rack, Qiu said.

The crew reported his claim to the airport and taxied the plane back to the airport gates, where airport police arrested Hou.

All the plane's passengers, luggage and cargo where then checked for explosives. None were found.

The flight took off at 10:50 pm, two hours and 15 minutes after its scheduled departure time.