Officers at Border Force seized two suitcases containing around 60 kilograms of cannabis which had been flown into the Essex airport from Bangkok on September 2, 2024.
34-year-old Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested at his home in Cardell Road in Gourock, Scotland, on September 18 and was charged with importing drugs between July 1 and September 2 last year, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The judge said Emmanuel-Thomas had played five games for Greenock Morton and was on a £600 per week contract at the time of the incident.
Sentencing Emmanuel-Thomas for four years at Chelmsford Crown Court, Judge Alexander Mills said: "It's through your own action that you will know longer be known for playing professional football.
"You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away."
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The striker, known as 'JET', played for the Blues between 2011 and 2013 after joining from Arsenal for £1.1million.
He later went on to plays for Bristol City, Aberdeen and Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton, who sacked Emmanuel-Thomas following his arrest.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the footballer "recruited" his girlfriend, 33-year-old Yasmin Piotrowska, of Purves Road in north-west London, and her friend 29-year-old Rosie Rowland, of Southend Road in Chelmsford.
The woman were intercepted at the airport and charged in connection with the incident.
The denied the charges and at an earlier hearing it was heard they thought they were importing gold and not cannabis, with the judge directing that not guilty verdicts be recorded for them.
Ms Piotrowska, 33, of Purves Road, Kensal Rise, north-west London, and Ms Rowland, 29, of Southend Road, Chelmsford, Essex, denied the charge and at an earlier hearing prosecutors offered no evidence in their case.
Mr Josse said at an earlier hearing that the women “said they thought they were importing gold not cannabis”, and the judge directed that not guilty verdicts be recorded for them.