According to a Customs statement provided to Fairfax bodies were not x-rayed or searched unless a risk to New Zealand's border had been identified. With some flights carrying more than one corpse, this represented just 1.42 per cent of the 35,000 flights arriving in New Zealand. Nearly 700 flights in and out of New Zealand carried a dead body in the cargo hold over the past year. In comparison, just 0.54 per cent of flights leaving New Zealand carried a corpse in the hold. Transporting the corpse, plus casket, cost about $700 to $1000 to freight back to New Zealand in the unheated hold.

Source: New Zealand Herald July 03, 2016 19:32 UTC