Mountain Goat Smokes On Flight

A tourist from China was arrested for smoking in an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau yesterday. The 41-year-old man, said to be from Yunnan, is believed to have been travelling with a group of 10 other China nationals. They were planning to spend two days in Pom Pom island in Semporna.

During the three-hour flight, the man had apparently gone into the aircraft lavatory to light up a cigarette. The smoke alarm was promptly triggered. The captain then instructed the cabin crew to inspect the lavatory. The passenger was reprimanded for smoking.

The captain then reported the incident to the Tawau Civil Aviation Department. Police promptly arrested the man when the aircraft landed at the Tawau airport at 1.47pm.

Under the law, the offence carries a fine of up to RM 2,500 and imprisonment for up to a year, upon conviction.

In August last year, an Iranian man was fined RM2,500 and jailed two days by the Sepang magistrate's court after pleading guilty to smoking on board an AirAsia flight from Tehran to Kuala Lumpur on Aug 23.