Chinese passenger arrested for refusing to put handbag through 'dirty' scanner

In a bizarre incident, a Chinese woman tussled with police officers and security guards at a subway station after refusing to put her handbag through a scanner. She was given five days' detention for her behaviour.

According to the local media, the woman wrestled with police and security guards, and even pretended a blackout rather than comply with routine safety check

The incident, which came to light on February 27, took place at Sanjiaohu station in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, and was caught on surveillance cameras, Kankanews.com reported.

The footage showed a woman, walking up to a checkpoint carrying a bag. The action then cuts to a scene in which she appears to be surrounded by security guards.

According to reports, the staff at the station told the passenger that she could not go through the security check without allowing her bag to be scanned. The woman apparently replied by saying that she did not want to put the expensive item on a dirty conveyor belt. The dispute then escalated from there.

The subway workers contacted the police and several officers arrived on the scene.

The woman, reportedly, refused to comply with their requests, after which the argument descended into pushing and shoving.

At one point in the video, the woman can be seen feigning a blackout, as her legs crumple and she slumps to the floor.

When it becomes evident the woman is not going to give in, police officers drag her away from the scene.

This is not the first time that a Chinese commuter had got into a fix over a handbag.

In early February, a woman travelling home for the holiday became an internet sensation after a video and X-ray images of her crawling through a security scanner at Dongguan railway station in southern China's Guangdong province went viral.

She said later that the bag contained a lot of money and she did not want to let it out of her sight.