A PROFESSIONAL footballer who played for Kidderminster Harriers last year has been jailed for trying to import £600,000 worth of cannabis into the UK.
Jay Emmanuel Thomas, 34, who turned out nine times for Harriers and also made five appearances for Arsenal between 2008 and 2011, was sentenced to four years behind bars following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Thomas was jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court after the smuggling incident which saw him recruit two women to travel to Thailand. There, the cannabis was collected and smuggled to the UK.
Stopped at Stanstead
On September 2, 2024, Thomas’ girlfriend Yasmin Piotrowska, 33, and her friend Rosie Rowland, 29, were stopped by Border Force officers at Stansted Airport after landing on a flight from Bangkok.
They had two suitcases each, which were searched, and a total of 60kg of cannabis – 15kg in each bag – was recovered.
Piotrowska, of Kensal Green, London, and Rowland, of Chelmsford, Essex, were charged with smuggling cannabis.
But the Crown dropped the case against the pair who said they believed they were transporting gold.
It is believed Thomas – who also played for Queens Park Rangers, Ipswich Town and PTT Rayong in Thailand in 2019 – was the intermediary between suppliers in Thailand and drug pushers in the UK.
The investigation revealed, with Thomas’ encouragement, the women had made a near identical trip – which was all-expenses paid and included a promise of a £2,500 payment – a few months earlier in July.
Thomas, now of Gourock, near Glasgow, was arrested on September 18 last year after he had signed for Greenock Morton FC in Scotland.
On his way to custody after being arrested, he said unprompted: “I just feel sorry for the girls.”
David Philips, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “We urge anyone asked to bring something into the UK that they’re unsure of to simply say no.
“Organised criminals like Thomas are invariably very persuasive with promises of payments and other enticements to couriers.
“But the risk of getting caught is very high and it simply isn’t worth the risk.
“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.”
