BBC: Former Arsenal youth player Thomas is arrested for smuggling marijuana and sentenced to four years in prison

June 6th According to the BBC, former Arsenal youth training player Jay Emmanuel Thomas was arrested for smuggling 600,000 pounds of marijuana from Thailand to the UK and will be sentenced to four years in prison.

34-year-old Jay Emmanuel Thomas planned an operation to smuggle 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of marijuana from Thailand to the UK, the drug was found at London's Stansted Airport on September 2. He has previously played for Arsenal, Aberdeen and England youth teams, and was fired by his club after being arrested.

Judge Alexander Mills told him at Chemsford Criminal Court: "Due to your own actions, you will no longer be called a professional footballer, you will become a criminal, a criminal who ruined his career with his own hands."

Emmanuel Thomas, together with his girlfriend Yasmin Piotrovska (33) and her friend Rosie Roland (28) came to help him smuggle this B drug. Border Force officials found vacuum-packed marijuana in four suitcases shipped from Bangkok to Essex at the airport.

Mobile analysis shows that Emmanuel Thomas is related to the case, and he sent a text message to Piotrovska when he was intercepted and searched to "delete everything in our chat history."

Prosecutor David Jos said Emmanuel Thomas then went to Stratford, East London on September 5 and replaced his cell phone. He was arrested on 18 September at his home in Gorokkadel Road near Glasgow, Scotland.

He allegedly used his influence as a professional player to deceive the two women and offered an all-inclusive trip to Thailand and £2,500 in cash, while he himself would receive £5,000 from an unknown person.

A handwritten letter from the football player to the judge was read in court, in which he wrote: "The past year has been the most painful and sober year of my life, and sometimes it is almost unbearable."

He mentioned that seeing his daughter visiting prison was one of the toughest moments in his life: "Watching her walk into that place, my heart was broken, and I never thought of letting her see me in this way."

His lawyer, Alex Ross, said he was lured into crimes when he faced serious financial difficulties during the expiration of the contract: "When he heard the knock on the door, realized it was a policeman and he was about to be arrested, he realized that the whole world had collapsed - his football career was over."

"His football career was over. It was a result of his own fault, but it was a devastating blow to someone who had such potential."

Ros also mentioned that Emmanuel Thomas had many difficulties when moving to Scotland to play football: "This led to the temptation in this case, and he succumbed to the temptation and made a disastrous misjudgment."