Chinese police detained an Australian man of Hong Kong origin under suspicion of making a bomb threat on Monday which forced a passenger airliner flying from China to Australia to return to Guangzhou and make an emergency landing. No bomb was detected and the flight eventually landed in Sydney a local government official, said Wednesday.

The suspect, whose Chinese name was given as Wong Chung-wah, is a cosmetics businessman in his thirties. A passenger reported the discovery of a note warning a bomb would explode on the China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Sydney, said an unidentified official with the public security bureau of Guangzhou-based Baiyun International Airport, Guangdong Province.

Police confirmed Wong wrote the note after verifying his handwriting, added the official. Wong told police he was lovesick and had made the threat to relieve his depression.

According to China's Criminal Law the maximum sentence for a bomb hoax of this kind is five years in prison. An official with China Southern Airlines, who asked not to be named, said nine passengers refused to get back on the flight. Several other flights to Australia were delayed due to the hoax.

The warning note was found in a toilet on the Airbus A330 Flight CZ325 more than 40 minutes after the aircraft took off from the Baiyun Airport at 21:30 on Monday. The pilot took emergency action and returned to Guangzhou at 23:15. More than 200 passengers were evacuated from the plane and police searched the aircraft, said the official. The plane continued its journey at 4:50 AM. Police have not yet charged Wong and questioning is continuing.

A spokesman with the Australian embassy in Beijing told Xinhua the detainee is a 39-year-old man from the Australian state of New South Wales. The spokesman refused to divulge the man's English name, saying, "We understand he is being questioned in relation to a bomb threat hoax."

Australian diplomats from the country's Consulate in Guangzhou were trying to gain access to the detainee, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)