was detained by police in Alaska after allegedly assaulting crew members on a Taiwan-bound flight, a report said here Saturday.The pilot of the Taiwanese carrier Eva Air flight BR005 Boeing 747, with 365 passengers on board, was forced to divert to Anchorage after taking off from Los Angeles because of Cheng's behaviour, the South China Morning Post said.
FBI agents took the star into custody and he was at an anchorage hospital Friday, it added.
Cheng, 27, was eventually subdued after a flight attendant, a fellow passenger, the cabin crew chief, the co-pilot and even the captain of the plane were assaulted, the report said.
Cheng suffered a minor injury when hit with a torch to subdue him, it quoted crew members as saying.
The singer was reportedly drunk and annoying fellow passengers in the first class compartment, smoking and singing to himself, despite repeated warnings that smoking was banned.
When a flight attendant asked Cheng to settle down after a male passenger sitting next to him complained the star had drunk too much and had been putting his hands on his body, Cheng allegedly pulled her to the floor by her hair, starting a struggle with other passengers.
Cheng then allegedly attacked the cabin crew chief, co-pilot and pilot.
After diverting to Anchorage and handing Cheng over to officials there, the plane continued its journey to Taipei.
The singer, believed to hold US citizenship, could face 20 years imprisonment and 250,000 US dollars in fines if convicted of breaching US civil aviation regulations, the newspaper said.
Cheng had been planning to spend two days in Taiwan before travelling to Hong Kong, it added.
'Canto-pop' in a widely popular form of entertainment in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, where performers sing in the territory's native Cantonese dialect.
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