Ex-footballer Emmanuel-Thomas jailed for £600k drugs smuggling plot

A professional footballer was sentenced to four years in prison after importing $600,000 worth of cannabis from Thailand to the UK.

A 60 kg (132lb) drugs haul was discovered at London Stansted Airport in Essex on September 2nd, thanks to Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, 34.

After being arrested, he had previously played for Arsenal, Aberdeen, and England as a youth, and Greenock Morton fired him.

“A professional footballer who gave it all up”

Yasmin Piotrowska, 33, and her 28-year-old friend Rosie Rowland, both of whom Emmanuel-Thomas recruited to smuggle the Class B drug into the UK.

When Miss Piotrowska was stopped and searched, Emmanuel-Thomas texted her to “delete everything from our chat if you can” in response to her discovery, according to a mobile phone analysis.

On September 18, Emmanuel-Thomas was detained at his home in Gourock, Scotland’s vicinity of Glasgow, at his residence in Cardwell Road.

Mr. Josse claimed to have manipulated the women by using his “influence as a professional footballer” to con them, offering them a trip to Thailand with no expenses and $2,500 in cash.

According to a previous hearing, Ms. Piotrowska and Ms. Rowland were accused of being involved in a conspiracy to transport gold after it became clear that they were doing so.

Judge Mills received a handwritten letter from the football player.

He declared in it, “This past year has been the most harmful and eye-opening of my life.”

It has occasionally been intolerable.

One of his most difficult experiences was seeing his daughter visit him while he was in prison, he claimed.

His attorney, Alex Rose, claimed that when he was “in a significant financial slump,” he was tempted into crime.

When the footballer heard about the arrest, he said, “When he knocked on the door and realized it was the police and he was going to be arrested, his entire career as a footballer was over.”

“His football career is over,” he declared. He has completely brought that on himself, but it is a devastating blow to someone who had such promise.

Emmanuel-Thomas, who was born in London and also played for the Queens Park Rangers and MK Dons, had a difficult time moving to Scotland to play football, according to Mr. Rose.

He continued, “I’m afraid that that gave this case the temptation.”