A man has been detained after an incident on a flight from Washington's Reagan airport to Denver.

一名男子在从纽约里根机场飞至丹佛的旅程中因恶意制造恐慌而被拘留。

Two F-16 jets were scrambled¹（攀登，争夺） to intercept²（阻止） the plane and escort（护送，陪同） it to land safely at Denver airport, the US Northern Command said.

There were initial reports that a Qatari（卡塔尔） diplomat³ had tried to set fire to his shoes.

But officials later said no explosives were found and he had apparently⁴ been trying to smoke in a plane toilet.

When confronted, the man "made a joke about it", which further alarmed people on board the flight, said an unnamed official quoted by the Associated Press.

The man has been identified as a Qatari diplomat stationed at the country's Washington embassy.

The plane, with more than 160 passengers and crew on board, arrived at Denver International Airport, where TV footage（连续镜头，片段） showed it surrounded by security vehicles.

The US Transportation Security Administration said the suspect was being interviewed by law enforcement officials.

"TSA is monitoring an incident on board United Airlines flight 663 from [Washington to Denver] after receiving initial reports that a Federal Air Marshal responded to a passenger possibly causing a disturbance⁵（干扰，骚乱） on board this aircraft," the agency said in a statement.

The incident came just months after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to detonate（引爆，爆炸） a bomb on a passenger jet arriving in the US.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was overpowered by passengers and crew shortly before the Northwest Airlines plane landed in Detroit from Amsterdam on 24 December. He has been charged with attempting to destroy a plane.

In 2001, Richard Reid, a British citizen, attempted to blow up a transatlantic（横渡大西洋的） passenger jet carrying 197 people with explosives hidden in his shoes.