24-year-old man trying to smuggle drugs dies after cocaine pellets bursts in his stomach mid-air

John collapsed and died after one of the cocaine pellets he swallowed busted in his stomach

John Kennedy dos Santos Gurjao, 24, bit more than he can chew when he reportedly collapsed and died on a Aer Lingus flight from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to Dublin. John was said to have sank his teeth into a passenger, then lay screaming and shaking before being pronounced dead at Cork airport, where the Aer Lingus flight diverted. Apparently, the cocaine pellets he swallowed busted in his stomach and this led to a violent mid-air-fit before he collapsed and died.

Authorities searching the Aer Lingus plane in which John died

According to reports, he was restrained by crew after becoming "extremely violent" but then reported to not have a pulse, with a postmortem confirming John had ingested 0.8kg of suspected cocaine. The drugs were believed to have been wrapped in 80 pellets, but one burst after he had become ill midair. Cocaine in that quantity has a street value of £40,000.
Heartbroken family members took to Facebook to pay tribute to John after he died on the Airbus A320. They were informed of his death in a phone call from the Brazilian Embassy in Dublin. John was one of nine siblings.