A man was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a court in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Dec 11 for making a fake report about an airline threat.

Wang Jianjiang, from Yanqi county in Xinjiang, called the service center of the Urumqi International Airport on Oct 8 saying that flight CZ680 to Beijing was in danger, local news portal tianshannet.com.cn reported on Dec 12.

His fake report forced the plane to land at the Langzhou Zhongchuan Airport in Gansu province. No threat was found after all passengers onboard were checked by police.

The forced landing delayed the flight for five hours and caused a loss of 288,000 yuan ($46,100), the report said.

The Yining People's Court handed down the verdict and said that his fake report seriously disturbed the social order.

jinhaixing@chinadaily.com.cn