Former Sunderland striker arrested with drugs stash after high-speed police chase

Seems a former Sunderland flop has found himself on the wrong side of the law again.

Former Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes has been charged after being caught with £4,000 worth of suspected cocaine following a police chase.

The incident took place in the Crumlin area of Dublin, with Stokes speeding away when approached by the police in the early hours of Friday morning.

After catching up and stopping the vehicle, officers found large amount of white powder within it and Stokes and another man were taken in custody.

“Gardaí arrested two men (aged in their 30s) in the early hours of Friday morning, 6th January 2023 in relation to incidents of dangerous driving in Dublin 12,” a police statement read.

“A quantity of drugs was also recovered from the vehicle.

“Both men were detained in Crumlin Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 and have been charged in relation to this.

“They have since been bailed and are due to appear before court at a later date.”

Anthony Stokes is still just 34-years-old and has not officially retired from football although he has been without a club since 2020.

He joined Sunderland in 2007 in a £2million deal from Arsenal following a prolific loan spell at Falkirk, but he was a flop on Wearside.

The Irishman was a regular at the Glass Spider nightclub in Sunderland, which he was later barred from on the request of then manager Roy Keane, who believed it was behind the striker’s poor showing in training.

He left to join Hibernian in March August 2009 after managing just five goals in 38 Sunderland appearances.

It is not the first time that Stokes has found himself on the wrong side of the law either. In 2013 he performed what a judge described as a “nasty, cowardly attack” on a part-time Elvis Presley impersonator, breaking the man’s nose and teeth.

He pleaded guilty to the assault and received a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and a court order to pay his victim nearly a quarter of a million Euros in damages.

In 2019 he also pleaded guilty to stalking an ex-girlfriend and her mother in Scotland, receiving an eight month deferred sentence, as well as a four-year restraining order – which he breached.  

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