More than 200 packages of cocaine were found in the body of a Japanese man who died on a plane in Mexico, according to local officials.

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The flight from Mexico City to Tokyo made an emergency landing at Hermosillo airport after the 42-year-old began having seizures due to a narcotic overdose, the local Attorney-General's office said.

The man, named as Udo "N", died of cerebral edema before the plane landed on Friday (local time).

He had flown from the Colombian capital Bogota before transferring at Mexico City for the 13-hour flight to his native Japan.

An autopsy revealed 246 packages of narcotics measuring 2.5 centimetres long and a centimetre wide in his stomach and intestines.

"The body of the traveller did not present other signs of violence that could cause the death," the Sonora state Attorney-General's office said.

Federal officials will take over the investigation.

The other 198 passengers on the flight continued their trip to Japan.