A passenger who made a bomb threat aboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle last week told investigators he made the false threat hoping to be arrested because members of a “powerful cartel” were waiting in Seattle to kill him.

Heeding the threat, pilots landed in Spokane, Washington, after which the man was detained and faces false information and hoax charges, The Seattle Times reported.

After the plane took off Wednesday afternoon, the passenger handed a flight attendant a note saying he had “several pounds” of homemade explosives in his carry-on and a detonator on him, the court documents alleged.

The note demanded the plane be rerouted to “any other airport” and threatened to kill everyone on the plane if it landed in Seattle. The note instructed the flight attendant to alert the pilot and air traffic controllers but keep the threat from others aboard the plane, the documents said.

The note said he would surrender “peacefully” upon arrival at the rerouted destination, according to a court filing.

Upon arrival in Spokane, the passenger was detained and a search by a bomb squad found no explosives, court documents said. He faces up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine if convicted.