Japanese Passenger Dies on Flight With 246 Bags of Cocaine in Stomach

Image: Airline seat (Photo by Clique Images via Unsplash)
Image: Airline seat (Photo by Clique Images via Unsplash)
Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:13 AM ET, Tue May 28, 2019

A Japanese passenger on a flight from Mexico City to Japan died Friday after he reportedly ingested 246 bags of cocaine and started having seizures as the plane departed.

According to BBC.com, a 42-year-old man identified only as Udo N died of cerebral edema caused by a drug overdose during a flight to Japan's Narita International Airport. When the crew found the man convulsing, the pilot called for an emergency landing at General Ignacio Pesqueira Garcia International Airport in Hermosillo, Mexico.

The man reportedly started his journey in Colombia and was heading to Japan from Mexico City.

When authorities performed an autopsy on the man, they found 246 plastic bags in the man's stomach and intestines that measured approximately 2.5 centimeters long and one centimeter wide, all containing cocaine.

The other 198 passengers onboard the flight were transferred to a different aircraft and continued their journey to Tokyo after the emergency landing. Federal authorities in Mexico will take over the investigation.


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