Drug carrying passenger dies from overdose

A young drug trafficker, who had swallowed a large number of cocaine capsules, died from an overdose in an Azores hospital after he fell ill on a trans-Atlantic flight, police said Wednesday.

The pilot diverted the plane which was on its way from Ecuador to Spain to Lajes airport on the island of Tercera, one of the Portuguese Azores islands, on Tuesday.

"When he arrived at the hospital, he was already dead," police said.

An autopsy revealed that the 22-year-old trafficker "hid a large quantity of capsules containing cocaine in his body", police added.