A Russian citizen tried to hijack an Aeroflot airliner on Thursday but was overpowered allowing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Prague, officials said.

The perpetrator was "pacified" on board, airport spokeswoman Pavlina Hajkova said.

The spokeswoman told media later that the man, a Russian citizen, was taken into custody by Czech police.

The Airbus A320 flying from Moscow to Geneva, made the emergency landing in Prague shortly before 11 AM (10:00 GMT), said Hajkova.

Czech news reports said 170 passengers were on board.

An Aeroflot official in Moscow confirmed the news, saying that the emergency landing was made because of a rogue passenger.

"The preliminary version is that this was a case of hooliganism," Lev Koshlyakov, Aeroflot's deputy chief executive, commented on Russian state television.

He added that the passenger had been misbehaving and threatening that he had an explosive device. Russian media reported the passenger was drunk.

"A drunk person was on board. He provoked a brawl with passengers, threatened to damage the plane and demanded that it change the course," Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The crew opted for an emergency landing after prior coordination with local authorities, the news agency said.

After landing, the plane taxied to an outer area of the airport, where it was surrounded by emergency vehicles, airport officials said.

Czech law enforcement officers removed the rogue passenger from the plane. Nobody on board was hurt, and no bomb was found.

Koshlyakov said that the plane was now preparing to continue its scheduled flight to Geneva. This is the latest in a series of incidents aboard Aeroflot flights that have suffered a series of hijackings in the early 1990s.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)