Former Arsenal forward jailed in UK on cannabis smuggling charge
LONDON : Former Arsenal and Ipswich Town forward Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was on Thursday jailed for four years for orchestrating the smuggling of 60 kg of cannabis into Britain's Stansted Airport.
The 34-year-old, who was released by Scottish second division club Greenock Morton after being charged last year, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court last month.
Britain's National Crime Agency previously said Emmanuel-Thomas had recruited his girlfriend and another woman to travel to Thailand, where Emmanuel-Thomas briefly played in 2019, to collect the cannabis and smuggle it to Britain.
The two women were also charged with smuggling cannabis but the prosecution offered no evidence against them and the charges were dropped on Wednesday, the NCA added.
Emmanuel-Thomas sat in the dock as Judge Alexander Mills told him: "Your transition from professional footballer to criminal represents a substantial fall from grace, one that effectively ends the only career path that you have ever known."
He will serve 40 per cent of that sentence in custody before he is released on licence.
Prosecutor David Josse said the 60 kg of cannabis had a street value of approximately 600,000 pounds (roughly $816,000) and a wholesale value of around 250,000 pounds, though Emmanuel-Thomas was paid 5,000 pounds for his involvement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Radwan double as Leicester secure tough win over Sale
Leicester Tigers set up a Premiership Rugby final against Bath at Twickenham with a 21-16 semi-final victory over Sale Sharks on Saturday, boosted by winger Adam Radwan's two first-half tries which laid the platform for the win. Radwan showed extraordinary pace, quick feet and athleticism for his scores as Leicester also crossed the tryline through Izaia Perese, the latter's game-breaking effort with the scores level at 16-16 was the winning moment in the match. The Sharks stayed in the game via the boot of George Ford, with Rob du Preez scoring their only try midway through the second half. There was a hint of controversy in the final play when Freddie Steward's tackle on Luke Cowan-Dickie was deemed legal following a review, the latter knocking the ball on in the contact to end the game. Welford Road said goodbye to a trio of club stalwarts on a high note as prop Dan Cole, following 342 first team appearances, scrumhalf Ben Youngs and hooker Julian Montoya leave the club at the end oft he campaign. "Today was mental, I could not be prouder. We are one win away (from the trophy)," Montoya told TNT Sports. "I like living things with passion and emotion, I love this team so much. The important thing is we trust each other. "Sale had an unbelievable season, today was a proper game." Leicester are record 11-time winners of the competition and last lifted the trophy in 2022. They kept up their record of never having lost a Premiership playoff match at home. The teams traded penalties before Leicester scored the first try as a long pass put Radwan in space on the right wing and he sidestepped tree defenders before diving over. Radwan added a second try before the half-hour mark and this one was a superb finish. Handre Pollard's cross-kick looked as though it would elude the winger, but he put in an acrobatic dive to collect the ball and cross the tryline in one motion. Leicester led 13-3 and as the heavens opened early in the second half, the ball became much more difficult to handle in the wet, with both teams guilty of unforced errors. A well-worked backline move created space for Du Preez to cross the tryline under the posts and a George Ford penalty levelled the score at 16-16. Almost immediately, however, a rampaging driving maul presented an attacking opportunity for Leicester and Perese burst through a gap to score the winning points.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
US and China set for trade talks in London on Monday
WASHINGTON: Three of US President Donald Trump's top aides will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday (Jun 9) for talks aimed at resolving a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent the United States in the talks, Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social platform without providing further details. China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that vice premier He Lifeng will be in the United Kingdom between June 8 and June 13, adding that the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism would be held during this visit. "The meeting should go very well," Trump wrote. Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a rare leader-to-leader call amid weeks of brewing trade tensions and a dispute over critical minerals. Trump and Xi agreed to visit one another and asked their staffs to hold talks in the meantime. Both countries are under pressure to relieve tensions, with the global economy under pressure over Chinese control over the rare earth mineral exports of which it is the dominant producer and investors more broadly anxious about Trump's wider effort to impose tariffs on goods from most US trading partners. China, meanwhile, has seen its own supply of key US imports like chip-design software and nuclear plant parts curtailed. The countries struck a 90-day deal on May 12 in Geneva to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump returned to the presidency in January. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 stock index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18 per cent after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2 per cent below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives. China sees mineral exports as a source of leverage. Halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican US president if economic growth sags because companies cannot make mineral-powered products. In recent years, US officials have identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the United States economically and militarily.
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Horse racing-Lambourn wins Epsom Derby for O'Brien
EPSOM, England :Front-running Lambourn roared to victory in the 246th running of the Epsom Derby on Saturday, a record-extending 11th win in the race for trainer Aidan O'Brien. Lambourn, who went into the race at 13-2, set a blistering gallop under jockey Wayne Lordan to beat the Charlie Johnston-trained Lazy Griff into second place. The win marked an Oaks-Derby double for O'Brien after Minnie Hauk battled to victory in the fillies' Classic on Friday, relegating previously unbeaten favourite Desert Flower into third. Chester Vase winner Lambourn was not the most fancied of O'Brien's runners in the race but favourite Delacroix, under jockey Ryan Moore, and The Lion In Winter were unable to make an impression in the running. Tennessee Stud, a 28-1 shot, finished in third.
