A 75-year-old man on a plane from Chicago was arrested Sunday after telling a flight attendant he had a bomb in his carry-on luggage.

The passengers on the plane bound to Long Island in New York were forced to exit while authorities inspected the aircraft of the possibility of having a bomb on the plane. Not a single explosive device was found on Southwest Airlines Flight 373 carrying 137 passengers and five crew members but the man, was taken into custody after the scare.

MacArthur Airport’s commissioner, Teresa Rizzuto said the pilot contacted airport law enforcement soon after the flight attendant heard of it. The commissioner said “we take this stuff seriously”. The suspect, identified as Draco Slaughter of Chicago, was arrested on a charge of first-degree falsely reporting an incident, according to the policeofficer.

A message left for him at a home address provided by the Suffolk County Police Department was not immediately returned Sunday night.

Flight 373 had arrived at about 2:35 p.m. at the Ronkonkoma airport, in Long Island of New York City, and passengers were getting off the plane when an attendant noticed a bag on an empty seat across from Slaughter, police said.

When asked about the bag, Slaughter said it was his bag and “there was a bomb in it,” police said.

The flight attendant immediately notified the pilot and the light was delayed about two hours while police inspected the aircraft.

The plane finally took off about 5 p.m. Slaughter was scheduled to have an initial court appearance Monday.