Sunday night’s flight EI 485 between the Portuguese and Irish capitals diverted to Cork airport due to a “medical emergency” following the commotion.
A statement from Aer Lingus sent to The Portugal News said Ireland’s Gardaí police “are investigating the sudden death of a man believed to be a Brazilian national aged 25 years on a flight from Lisbon to Dublin.”
The Brazilian, who the Irish Times identified as 24-year-old student John Kennedy Santos Gurjão, “took ill and became agitated” while on board and had to be restrained by cabin crew and a passenger, the newspaper said.
During the commotion he bit the fellow passenger who was trying to help restrain him.
He reportedly convulsed and fell unconscious, and was attended to by a doctor and nurse who were on the flight, but was pronounced dead at Cork airport at 6.40pm.
The Irish Times said a post mortem on Monday at Cork University Hospital confirmed that the student had “ingested up to 100 pellets which were subsequently found to have contained 0.8 kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of €60,000.
“At least one of the pellets burst inside him.”
The newspaper also revealed Santos Gorjão, who was originally from Boa Vista, north-west Brazil, had been refused entry to Ireland at Dublin Airport earlier this year.
He “had tried to enter Ireland in July to study English but was stopped by immigration police because he did not have enough money to support himself ”, the newspaper wrote, adding: “However, it is believed he later returned and entered Ireland to begin studying at an English language school in Dublin. He later returned home to Brazil for a period. He was returning to Ireland to attend another English language course before his three-month visa expired on Sunday.”
Ireland’s Gardaí are said to be in contact with Portuguese and that Brazilian authorities to reconstruct the movements of Santos Gurjão before he boarded the flight at Lisbon.
Aer Lingus’s statement also said a number of packages had been recovered and forwarded for forensic analysis.
It further revealed that during the course of the investigation into the incident, Gardaí discovered what was originally suspected to be amphetamine in the luggage of a woman in her 40s who was on the same flight.
The woman was arrested at 11pm Sunday night and was being held in custody at Togher Garda Station under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act.
However, according to the Irish Times, that substance later turned out to be a form of flour used in baking traditional Brazilian bread and the woman was released without charge on Tuesday.
The newspaper reported that the woman, “who was born in Angola, but has a Portuguese passport and lives in Dublin, was brought to Togher Garda Station in Cork where she was questioned about her relationship with Mr Santos Gurjão.
“Detectives also carried out searches of her flat and business premises in Dublin where she provides services for Brazilian students who come to Ireland to learn English.
“It is understood that the woman confirmed details obtained by Gardaí that she had purchased the ticket for Mr Santos Gurjão on Aer Lingus flight EI 485 from Lisbon to Dublin.”
After disembarking in Cork, all of the passengers were reportedly questioned by Gardaí officers before being bussed to Dublin around three hours later.
A spokesman told the Irish Times that police will now prepare a file on the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Meanwhile, more arrests have been made this week at Lisbon Airport for drug smuggling.
PJ police announced on Monday that two individuals aged 30 and 34 had been arrested for attempting to bring drugs into the country.
One of the suspects was found to be in possession of around 2,450 grams of highly pure cocaine which was being carried inside a suitcase.
The other suspect was found to be carrying 800 grams of pure cocaine disguised as hygiene products.
A statement from the PJ said the drugs had been brought in from South America and the amount confiscated was enough to create 16,500 individual doses of cocaine.
On Wednesday another man was also arrested at Lisbon’s Portela airport on suspicion of drug trafficking, in an unrelated incident.
Around five kilos of cocaine – enough for 25,250 individual doses – were seized from two backpacks that the suspect had been carrying.
The drugs had been brought to Portugal by the 33-year-old man on a TAP flight from São Tomé and Príncipe.
Man dies following mid-air ruckus on flight from Lisbon to Ireland
in World · 22 Oct 2015, 12:57 · 0 Comments