Man held in Brisbane airport bomb scare

Travellers in Brisbane Airport's worldwide terminal fled in terror as a man threatened a woman with a knife and claimed to have a bomb, but police have ruled out terrorism.

He walked into the airport's global terminal on Saturday evening holding a metal box with exposed wiring and claimed to have a bomb, The Courier-Mail reports citing sources.

The man has been charged with one count each of contravene a domestic violence order, stalking with a weapon, stealing and serious assault police.

The man's first language was Arabic and an Arabic-speaking police officer was at the scene within minutes to negotiate, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said. There are reports of a man being armed with knives, and authorities have declared a bomb threat, according to 9news.

Local media reported that a large number of passengers had been disrupted by the incident with many being forced to evacuate.

The man, who was taken into custody by police, is due to face court on Monday. "His behavior elevated such that they were quite concerned about him, and some bean bag rounds were discharged and they struck him in the torso", Fleming told reporters.

"It will take some time to get operations back to normal", an airport representative said in a statement.

Eyewitnesses on the Gold Coast shared photos on social media of tanks from the Explosive Ordinance Response Team, or bomb squad, arriving at the Bruce Bishop auto park, where it's understood the man detained at Brisbane Airport has his vehicle parked. "The alleged behaviors ... what he was saying, what he was doing was certainly terrifying".

"There is no evidence to suggest the incident at the global airport is terrorism related; it is a domestic violence-related situation", police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.