Footballer Jay Emmanuel-Thomas admits plot to smuggle £600,000 of cannabis

Professional footballer Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has admitted being involved in a £600,000 drug smuggling scheme after 60kg of cannabis was seized at Stansted Airport.

The former Aberdeen striker, was sacked by Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship, after being detained and questioned by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers.

The 33-year-old was arrested in Gourock, Inverclyde, in September 2024 in an operation supported by officers from Police Scotland.

He was taken across the border to Carlisle to be questioned and later charged.

Border Force officers detected around 60 kilos of the drug in two suitcases which had arrived on a flight from Bangkok. NCA

His arrest came after the NCA seized an estimated £600,000 of the class B drug as it was being smuggled through Stansted on September 2.

Border Force officers detected roughly 60kg (132lb) of the drug in two suitcases, which had arrived via a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.

Emmanuel-Thomas pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex to fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis between July 1, 2024 and September 2, 2024.

He had previously denied the charges when asked to enter a plea in October last year, but changed his plea to guilty at a hearing on May 7.

This can now be reported after reporting restrictions were lifted on Wednesday.

He was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing on a date to be fixed.

Border Force officers detected around 60kg of cannabis in two suitcases which had arrived on a flight from Bangkok. NCA

Co-defendants Rosie Rowland and Yasmin Piotrowska, who both denied the charge, face no further action after prosecutors offered no evidence in their case.

Prosecutor David Josse KC said that “at all material times they maintained both before the events that led to the importation and after the events they said they thought they were importing gold not cannabis”.

Judge Christopher Morgan directed that not guilty verdicts be recorded in the case of Rowland and Piotrowska and they walked free from the dock.

Rowland, 29, of Southend Road, Chelmsford, Essex, and 33-year-old Piotrowska, of Purves Road, Kensal Rise, north-west London, wept after leaving the dock.

Emmanuel-Thomas appeared at Wednesday’s hearing by video-link from Chelmsford Prison.

He was asked if he would like to appear at his sentencing in person or by video-link and he asked that it be in person, with the date for this hearing to be set administratively.