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07
Jun 2023
Bulgarian martial arts experts jailed for dealing cocaine in Harrogate
Two Bulgarian martial arts experts have been jailed for peddling cocaine in Harrogate after delving into the UK drug market within a week of arriving in the country.
Emilov Andonov, an expert in the Russian combat sport sambo, and his sidekick Stanislav Stefanov, a professional judo trainer, were stopped by police in the Asda car park where officers suspected a drug deal was taking place, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rachael Landin said 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 the 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 after being remanded in custody. They were assisted by a Bulgarian interpreter.
Just arrived in England
Defence barrister Matthew Harding, for Andonov, said 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, adding:
He claimed when the two men arrived in the country on January 20, they had no intention of lurching into crime.
He said Andonov, 21, was a judo expert who studied sambo at the national academy in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Mr Harding added:
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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. The barrister added:
He said the two men arrived in London initially where they were “offered an opportunity” to deal drugs in Yorkshire.
He added Stefanov would go back to judo training and study upon his inevitable deportation to Bulgaria.
Judge Sean Morris told the defendants:
Each man was jailed for two years and three months.
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