The 42-year-old man, identified only as Udo N, began having a seizure after the commercial flight from the Colombian capital made a stopover in Mexico City, the prosecutor’s office for the state of Sonora said. “Flight attendants noticed a person suffering convulsions and requested permission to make an emergency landing in Hermosillo, Sonora,” it said.
“When the plane landed at 2:25am on Friday, paramedics boarded it and declared Udo N deceased.”
An autopsy found the man had swallowed 246 packets of cocaine, each measuring 1cm by 2.5cm. The cause of death was swelling of the brain caused by a drug overdose, prosecutors said.
The Aeromexico plane carrying 198 other passengers resumed its flight to Japan after the body was removed and international protocols were carried out, said the statement.
Transporting narcotics inside human “mules”is a widely used smuggling tactic with drug cartels.