Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Monday that a passenger has been arrested on an international flight from Sydney to Malaysia following a mid-air emergency incident.
"The man, 45, was arrested by the AFP without incident. Passengers have now been evacuated from the aircraft," AFP said in a statement.
"There is no impending threat to the community. The man is expected to be charged later tonight."
According to Reuters, the man, 45, was charged with making a false statement about a threat to damage a plane and not complying with cabin crew's safety instructions.
The offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of over A$15,000 (about R288,000).
At about 5:16 p.m. local time, the police revealed on its social media account that the authority was responding to an "emergency incident" at Sydney International Airport.
Sydney Airport confirmed that as a result of the incident, there have been 32 domestic flights cancelled, with delays of up to 90 minutes for other domestic flights.
"Currently no international flight cancellations. Passengers are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight," Sydney Airport noted.
According to real-time air traffic tracker Flightradar24, Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 to Kuala Lumpur took off at about 1:40pm local time, but the aircraft was later diverted back to Sydney.
Malaysian National News Agency Bernama reported that the turn-back decision was made due to "a disruptive passenger on-board."
"In the interest of safety, the commander of the flight made a decision to return to Sydney.
“The flight, carrying 194 passengers and five crew on-board, landed safely at 3.47pm local time," Malaysia Airlines was quoted as saying.