China Eastern Airlines confirmed today that a passenger smoked in a plane toilet before the aircraft took off from Beijing to Saipan and was led away by airport police yesterday evening.

Several passengers tweeted on Weibo that their flight MU7107 was delayed for more than two hours because it took them an hour to wait for police to take the offender away and another hour to go through a safety check.

"It's so annoying! Someone is smoking! Does he know laws? We have waited for nearly an hour before he got off the plane," Weibo user named Er Dongjiamao wrote.

Online pictures show the man, in his 30 or 40s, wore a black coat and smiled. Er Dongjiamao said he was sitting on row 71.

Another microblogger called Dongdongdongdongqiang said everyone had to go through a safety check and they had stayed in the plane for two hours. She said the flight was delayed for more than two hours and they arrived in Saipan around 3:30pm.

China Eastern Airlines confirmed the incident, saying air crew found him scratching matches in a toilet, stopped him immediately, then waited for airport police to take him away.

Beijing Capital International Airport police said the man put out the cigarette immediately. He didn't carry a lighter or a match box with him, but picked up a box near the boarding gate.

Since he didn't cause severe damages, he was fined 200 yuan and set free, police told the Legal Evening News. The man's identity was not revealed.

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