A former Arsenal star player Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has been arrested and is set to go to jail after the professional footballer admitted his involvement in a plot to smuggle drugs. It was gathered that the player was to smuggle cannabis with a street value of £600,000 from Thailand into the UK.
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested after 60kg (9.44st) of cannabis was found in suitcases arriving at London Stansted Airport, Essex, on 2 September. The former Arsenal player was sacked by his then club Greenock Morton after being charged.
He has also played for Aberdeen, Ipswich Town and England at youth level. The father-of-two will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court at a later date. The drugs arrived in suitcases from Bangkok via Dubai Emmanuel-Thomas, of Cardwell Road, Gourock, near Glasgow, pleaded guilty to the offence in May. Prosecutor David Josse KC said it followed a “very thorough investigation” by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Charges against Rosie Rowland, 28, of Southend Road, Chelmsford, and 33-year-old Yasmin Piotrowska, of Purves Road, north-west London, had been dropped by the prosecution, he told the court. They wept as they were allowed to leave the dock, having denied importing cannabis between 1 July and 2 September at earlier hearings.
Mr Josse said the investigation into their involvement was discontinued after analysis of Emmanuel-Thomas’s mobile phone. The prosecutor said: “They thought they were importing gold, not cannabis.” Emmanuel-Thomas made one first team appearance for Arsenal, also going on to play for Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers, MK Dons, and Thai-based team PTT Rayong in 2019.
