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The family of a drugs mule who died on an Aer Lingus flight had no knowledge of his double life and thought he was still in Brazil.

John Kennedy dos Santos Gurjao suffered an overdose after a package thought to contain cocaine burst inside his stomach on a flight from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to Dublin.

The young man, who was carrying an estimated £43,000 worth of drugs inside him, then went berserk and bit a fellow passenger as the flight crew radioed ahead for assistance.

The 24-year-old was pronounced dead when the Airbus A320 touched down after being diverted to Cork Airport on Sunday night.

Today his aunt Lourdes Gurjao told the Irish Mirror he had informed relatives he was still in the Equator city of Macapa where he had been living for the past year since leaving his native city of Calcoene 230 miles away.

His family were informed of his death in a phone call from the Brazilian Embassy in Dublin.

He was one of nine siblings.

They believed he was still living in Brazil, but they had no idea of the secret double life he had been living.

Lourdes said: “We received a phone call from the consulate asking if we knew him.

“The truth was we didn’t even know he was out of the country.

(Image: PA)

“He used to keep in contact by text message.

"He’d send us messages saying, ‘Morning’ or ‘Afternoon’ but that’s all we knew of him.”

She told a local paper: “He left Calcoene so he could survive. It was a life or death thing.

“He lost his parents at a very early age and because there was no work, he went to Macapa.

“It was a terrible shock. We never imagined he would travel so far away.”

(Image: RTE)

Several of John’s friends and relatives changed their Facebook profile pictures to images of black ribbons today.

Cousin Rafael Gurjao wrote alongside a picture of the youngster: “Rest in peace my cousin. We shall all miss you.”

Revealing the pain relatives were going through, he added: “Today the Gurjao family is very sad because we lost one of our members.”

Friend Le Ladislau wrote: “God bless his heart.”

Mr dos Santos Gurjao, who sometimes spelt his name Jhon, described himself on his Facebook page in February as being in an open relationship but wrote he had got married on November 4 last year.

(Image: Provision)

He also wrote of moving to Porto Ordaz in Venezuela last August.

He is thought to have spent time too in Barcelona, Spain.

In April last year he shared a photo on his Facebook page which said: “Today’s aim. To be a better person, not perfect, just better than yesterday.”

A Portuguese woman in her 40s, thought to have been sat next to him, was arrested after 4lbs of white powder was found in her luggage.

But tests showed it was not drugs and may have been baking or talcum powder.