A professional footballer has been jailed for four years after admitting his involvement in a plot to smuggle £600,000 worth of cannabis through Stansted Airport from Thailand.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who previously played for Gillingham, was sacked by Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton after his arrest last year.

The former Livingston, Aberdeen and Arsenal academy striker changed his plea to guilty at a hearing on May 7.

Emmanuel-Thomas entered the plea at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex to fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis between July 1 and September 2 last year.

He had previously denied the charges when asked to enter a plea in October.

The 34-year-old appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court today, where he was jailed for four years.

The court was told how his arrest came after the National Crime Agency (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 of the drug in two suitcases, which had arrived via a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.

It had been brought into the country by Emmanuel-Thomas’ now former girlfriend, Yasmin Piotrowska, and Rosie Rowland.

Emmanuel-Thomas, of Cardwell Road in Gourock, Inverclyde, Scotland, was arrested in the town by NCA officers in September 2024.

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

The former Gills striker, who has also played for Ipswich Town, Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers and Thai side PTT Rayong, scored 10 goals in 35 games in all competitions in 2016/17 for Gills.

The BBC has reported that prosecutor, David Josse KC, said Emmanuel-Thomas was linked to the discovery by WhatsApp messages, voice notes and pictures.

He added that the footballer had a “significant role” in the drugs operation and that he used his influence to persuade the women to work for him, and had offered them £2,500 and a free holiday to Thailand.

However, Alex Rose, mitigating, claimed: "It's utterly out of character, and it takes a long time for somebody in that position to come to terms with what he has done and what he has put others through.”

He added that the footballer had become involved with drugs during "significant financial hard times" when he did not have a football contract.

‘It is through your own actions you will no longer be known as a professional footballer...’

It was also claimed that Emmanuel-Thomas struggled with moving to Scotland to play football, which “led to temptation in this case”.

A letter written by Emmanuel-Thomas stated that the past year has been “unbearable”. He added that having his daughter visit him in prison “broke” him.

During sentencing, Judge Mills told Emmanuel-Thomas: "You knew precisely what you were involved with and what you had gotten them involved with.

“It is through your own actions that you will no longer be known as a professional footballer.

“You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away."

The judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction of his phone, as well as the cannabis and suitcases. He has now begun his sentence.

NCA senior investigating officer David Philips 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 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.”