Former Aberdeen FC player Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has admitted smuggling drugs through an airport.
The shamed striker – who played for the Dons in 2021/22 – was sacked by Greenock Morton after his arrest last year in connection with trying to smuggle £600,000 of cannabis from Thailand to London.
The 34-year-old originally denied drug importation but admitted the charge on May.
This can now be reported after reporting restrictions were lifted today.
We can today reveal that the National Crime Agency were monitoring the movements of two women as they tried to important several suitcases worth of cannabis from Bangkok to Stansted Airport in September 2024.
Women ‘thought it was gold’
When the women arrived in London, police questioned them.
They had two suitcases each, which were searched, and a total of 60kg of cannabis – 15kg in each bag – was recovered.
It emerged that the women were Emmanuel-Thomas’s girlfriend Yasmin Piotrowska, 33, and her friend Rosie Rowland, 29.
The pair told the authorities they thought they were bringing gold back into the country.
And, though they were originally charged, all charges against them have been dropped.
Instead, police pursued Emmanuel-Thomas, who had at one time lived in Thailand while playing football there.
Officers arrested him at his home in Cardwell Road in Gourock, Inverclyde last September 2024.
The NCA said it is believed that Emmanuel-Thomas “was the intermediary between suppliers in Thailand and drug pushers in the UK”.
Wasn’t the first trip
The investigation revealed that, with Thomas’s encouragement, the women had made a near identical trip – all expenses paid and a promised payment of £2,500 – a few months earlier in July.
On his way to custody after being arrested, he said unprompted: “I just feel sorry for the girls.”
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.
The footballer was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing on a date to be fixed.
Referring to the two women involved, prosecutor David Josse KC told the court: “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”.
Both women wept after leaving the dock, on being cleared of any wrongdoing.
After the hearing, David Philips, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “Organised crime groups make significant profits by trafficking and selling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the US, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.
“Organised criminals like Emmanuel-Thomas can be very persuasive and offer payment to couriers.
“But the risk of getting caught is very high and it simply isn’t worth it.”
Promising football career
The Londoner began a promising football career for English Premier League side Arsenal, making his debut against Stoke in 2010.
He then went out on loan to Blackpool and Doncaster before returning to play for the Gunners.
Emmanuel-Thomas drew huge praise from legendary manager Arsene Wenger who said he would go onto be a “great player” if kept his fitness.
But things didn’t work out for the starlet at Arsenal and so he signed for Ipswich Town in 2011.
He then had spells at Bristol City and QPR before making a surprise switch in 2019 to a now-defunct football club based in Southern Thailand.
Only scored once for the Dons
The midfielder returned to the UK in 2020 and moved north of the border, signing for Premiership side Livingston, who he represented in the Scottish League Cup final.
His contract ran out and so then Dons boss Stephen Glass snapped him up in May 2021.
Glass hailed Emmanuel-Thomas was “the first piece of the jigsaw” of the Aberdeen attack rebuild – and supporters affectionally called him ‘Jet’ after his initials.
But the forward made just 14 league appearances for Aberdeen – and his only goal for the club came in a League Cup game against Raith.
Aberdeen ended his contract in April 2022 and he went off to play for a club in India before an unsuccessful trial with Caley Thistle in October 2023.
He then signed a contract with Greenock Morton last summer before the club sacked him.