A passenger of Japanese origin died aboard an AeroMexico flight from Colombia to Japan after ingesting hundreds of bags of cocaine, authorities said.
The man, identified as Udo N, was headed to Tokyo from Bogota after a stopover in Mexico City on Friday (May 24). According to the Attorney General's prosecutor's office, at around 2 am local time, he began to suffer convulsions mid-flight. The airliner sought an emergency landing in Hermosillo, Sonora.
Upon landing, he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy revealed that the man died from cerebral edema or swelling in the brain as a result of the drug overdose, likely after one of the bags broke. Forensics experts found 246 plastic bags filled with cocaine lodged in his stomach and intestines, according to a statement released this week by the Sonora attorney general's office.
Authorities said there were no other signs of physical trauma that could have attributed to the passenger's death.
According to the World Drug Report 2018, the production of Columbian cocaine hit "record high" in 2017, increasing at a rate of 31 percent year-on-year to 1,400 tonnes, cultivated on 171,000 hectares.
Reports by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicate that the global cocaine manufacture in 2016 reached the highest level ever reported, with an estimated 1,410 tonnes being produced. While most of the world's cocaine comes from Colombia, Africa and Asia are also emerging as cocaine trafficking and consumption hubs.
In India, as per the Narcotics Control Bureau 2017 report, 69 kilograms of cocaine was seized and 132 cases of cocaine consumption were recorded. In 2016, 28 kilograms of cocaine was seized and 81 cases were registered in 2016.
Also, a Venezuelan national was arrested on Monday for smuggling cocaine into the country. The medical report revealed 65 capsules of cocaine were recovered from the person's body.
