Airline Passenger Smuggling Cocaine Inside Body Dies Mid-Air After Seizure

An Aeromexico plane from Bogotá to Tokyo made an emergency landing in northern Mexico, Friday, after a passenger died mid-flight.

The Attorney-General’s (AG) office for the state of Sonora, Mexico, said the commercial flight, carrying 199 passengers, made a stopover in Mexico City before departing for Tokyo on a 13-hour-long journey. Shortly after taking off, a 42-year-old passenger on board, identified as Udo N from Japan, began having a seizure and the pilot made the decision to divert the plane to Hermosillo International Airport. Distance between the airport and Mexico City is around 1,177 miles.

“Flight attendants noticed a person suffering convulsions and requested permission to make an emergency landing in Hermosillo, Sonora,” the AG’s office said in a statement, the Guardian reported. “When the plane landed at 2:25 a.m. local time [5:25 a.m. EDT] on Friday, paramedics boarded it and declared Udo N deceased.”

After the deceased’s body was removed from the flight, it continued as per schedule to its destination without any other incident.

An autopsy conducted on Udo N’s body revealed 246 packages of cocaine, measuring 2.5 centimeters long and a centimeter wide, stuffed inside his stomach and intestines. "The body of the traveler did not present other signs of violence that could cause the death," the AG’s office said.

Mexico's federal authorities will take over the investigation. Officials suspect the deceased flight passenger was acting as a human “mule” who was used for transporting narcotics, which is a widely used smuggling tactic with drug cartels.