The former Arsenal player Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has been sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in an attempt to smuggle 60 kilograms of cannabis into the United Kingdom.

The 34-year-old will serve one year and seven months, having already served nine months on remand, before being released on license.

The maximum sentence for cannabis importation in the UK is 14 years in prison.

At Thursday’s sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Emmanuel-Thomas sat behind a glass-panelled dock in a grey suit jacket, flanked by two security officials.

Prosecutor David Josse KC told the court that Emmanuel-Thomas was expecting a payment of £5,000 ($6,800) for his part in getting the cannabis into the country.

“It is clear this was about money despite you being in a position where you had the privilege of playing football as a living,” the judge, Alexander Mills, told Emmanuel-Thomas.

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

You will be known as a criminal, a professional footballer who threw it all away, and put others at risk of imprisonment, in pursuit of money.”

Emmanuel-Thomas came through the ranks at Arsenal (Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Appearing via videolink from HMP Chelmsford on May 21, Emmanuel-Thomas pleaded guilty to the charge of fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis, between July 1 2024 and September 2, 2024, at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The former England youth international had been detained by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in September 2024 after the cannabis was detected in suitcases which had arrived on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand to London’s Stansted Airport on September 2.

The suitcases belonged to Rosie Rowland, 29, and Yasmin Piotrowska, 33, the latter being Emmanuel-Thomas’ partner. Having been arrested at Stansted, charges against the women, who denied their involvement at an earlier hearing, were dropped by the prosecution.

In May, Josse told the court that the investigation into their involvement was discontinued after analysis of Emmanuel-Thomas’s mobile phone. “They thought they were importing gold, not cannabis,” Josse said.

Emmanuel-Thomas initially denied his involvement in importing class B drugs at a hearing at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court in September but changed his plea to guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court in May.

He had been playing at Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton, who terminated his contract after he was charged.

After making one Premier League appearance for Arsenal, Emmanuel-Thomas left the north London side in 2011.

He then played for clubs including Ipswich Town, Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers, as well as teams in India and Thailand, before joining Morton in July 2024.

(Top photo of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas playing for Aberdeen: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)