Officials in Mexico transport the body of a man who died aboard a flight after swallowing 246 packets of cocaine in May 2019. (Credit: Sonora Attorney General)

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A Japanese man died on board a flight from Mexico City to Tokyo with 246 packets of cocaine in his stomach.

Identified only as Udo N., the 42-year-old passenger flew from Bogota, Colombia, to the Mexican capital, where he transferred to a flight to Narita airport, Tokyo, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office for the Mexican state of Sonora.

“Crew noticed a person suffering convulsions and requested to make an emergency landing in Hermosillo, Sonora,” reads the statement.

At 2:25 a.m. local time (5:25 a.m. ET) on May 24, paramedics boarded the plane and found the passenger had died.

An autopsy revealed that Udo N. died from a cerebral edema caused by an overdose, according to the statement.

There were 246 plastic packets of cocaine in his stomach and intestines, measuring 1 by 2.5 centimeters each.

After his body was removed from the plane the flight continued its journey to Japan with 198 passengers on board.

Swallowing packets of drugs is a common way that smugglers try to move illicit substances from country to country.

In September 2016 a 48-year-old Australian man was caught with 1.1 kilograms (2.4 pounds) of cocaine in his stomach at Sydney Airport, Australia.

The man, who lives in Thailand, had passed a baggage examination when he told police he had ingested a large number of packets filled with cocaine.

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