Two Bulgarian martial artists jailed for dealing cocaine in Harrogate within a week of arriving in UK

Emilov Andonov, an expert in the Russian combat sport sambo, and his sidekick Stanislav Stefanov, a professional judo trainer, were stopped by cops in the Asda car park on Bower Road where officers suspected a drug deal was taking place, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Rachael Landin said that burly Stefanov, a part-time bouncer in his home country, had been driving an Audi, and Andonov was in a Toyota.

Police suspected something was amiss when one of them men got into the other’s car.

Officers searched both vehicles and found 11 wraps of cocaine, worth £550, under the gear stick in the Audi.

They found a further 19 wraps of high-purity cocaine under the covering of the gear stick in the Toyota – those drugs were worth £950.

They also seized three mobile phones which showed that text messages had been pinging back and forth between the two men in the four days preceding their arrest on January 28.

It appeared that Andonov and Stefanov, both national-level martial artists in their homeland, had been working under orders from people higher up the drug chain who provided them with “post codes and instructions” to deliver their illicit wares.

They were each charged with possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply but initially denied the offence, claiming they had “bought in bulk” for their own personal use.

However, they ultimately changed their pleas to guilty and appeared for sentence yesterday (7 June) after being remanded in custody.

Defence barrister Matthew Harding, for Andonov, said that both men, of no fixed address, had only been in the country for a week before they got involved in the drug trade.

He said they had been “sent up to the Yorkshire area” to deal cocaine by their drug overlords in London.

“They are clearly delivering under (instruction),” added Mr Harding.

“At times they don’t know where to go or what they are doing.”

He claimed that when the two men arrived in the country on 20 January, they had no intention of lurching into crime.

He said that Andonov, 21, was a judo expert who studied sambo at the national academy in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.

“He and his co-accused have competed in (national) competitions,” added Mr Harding.

“He will inevitable receive a sentence that means his deportation from this country is automatic.”

John Batchelor, for Stefanov, said his 21-year-old client was a professional judo trainer and part-time doorman who had studied at the same sports school as Andonov.

“He’s competed at national level and they’ve known each other from school,” added the barrister.

He said the two men arrived in London initially where they were “offered an opportunity” to deal drugs in Yorkshire.

He added that Stefanov would go back to judo training and study upon his inevitable deportation to Bulgaria.

Judge Sean Morris told the defendants: “Within days of arriving in this country you were breaking the law in the most serious way.

“You were being directed where to sell drugs and that meant you were putting the citizens of this country at risk for your own greed.

“I recommend, on the completion of your sentence, (that) you are immediately deported back to Bulgaria.”

Each man was jailed for two years and three months.