A 24-year-old Brazilian man who became aggressively violent, bit another passenger and then died during an Aer Lingus flight from Portugal to Ireland was carrying more than 80 pellets of a substance believed to be cocaine in his stomach. During a postmortem exam, pathologists discovered that the man, identified by the Irish Times as as John Kennedy Santos Gurjao, had ingested 0.8 grams of the substance. According to Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, one of the wrapped pellets appeared to have ruptured, causing Santos Gurjao’s death.
The substance inside the pellets has been collected for toxicology tests and, if it is identified as cocaine, the amount of the drug that Santos Gurjao had swallowed would have a street value of €56,000 ($63,600).
According to the Irish Times, Irish police officers are investigating Santos Gurjao’s movements and whereabouts before he boarded Aer Lingus Flight EI 485 and hope to determine when he swallowed the suspected drugs. The flight, which was bound for Dublin, had to be diverted to Cork, after Santos Gurjao became “ill and agitated” during the flight, violently shaking and biting a passenger who attempted to restrain him.
Santos Gurjao was eventually handcuffed by the flight crew. He then suffered a suspected seizure and collapsed. A doctor and two nurses on the flight performed CPR until the plane landed in Cork; Santos Gurjao was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.