Former Arsenal striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has appeared in court after he was charged with orchestrating the attempted importation of drugs.

The 33-year-old, who currently plays in the Scottish Championship for Greenock Morton, was arrested at his home near Glasgow early Wednesday and taken to the northern English city of Carlisle to be questioned.

The father-of-two did not enter a plea to the charge at the Carlisle Magistrates court but his lawyer said he “strenuously” denied involvement in any plan to import drugs to the UK and wanted to clear his name at trial.

He was remanded in custody after an application for bail was rejected.

The drug-smuggling case comes after officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) discovered 60 kilograms of cannabis with an estimated value of £600,000 in suitcases arriving at Stansted Airport, near London, on a flight from Bangkok on September 2.

A total of four suitcases were said to have been seized. Some 29kg of cannabis were spread across two of these, with 31kg contained in the remaining two.

Two women, one of whom is the partner of Emmanuel-Thomas, were arrested and charged with drug importation offenses.

Emmanuel-Thomas – a former England Under-17 and Under-19 international – started his career with Arsenal where he played five games including in the Champions League at Shakhtar Donetsk in November 2010.

He later played for the likes of Livingston, Aberdeen, Ipswich Town, Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers, Cardiff City and in Thailand for PTT Rayong.

The maximum sentence for drug couriers is 14 years.