Two ex-winners of Come Dine With Me are convicted of being in a drugs gang ... trends now
Two former winners of Come Dine With Me have been convicted of being in a drugs gang who attempted to smuggle large quantities of cannabis.
Nicholas Panayiotou, Eleanar Attard, Constantinos Zavros, Luke Wileman and Koby Haik planned to smuggle 58kg of cannabis into the London from America, but were foiled following a theft at a London airport, the Metropolitan Police said.
Panayiotou and Attard appeared on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me: The Professionals with their Touch of Greek restaurant in Chingford, east London in July 2022.
Two women reported their suitcases and passports had been stolen after arriving in London from Los Angeles in January last year, the force said. CCTV inquiries led detectives to two suspects, a man and woman, and a car registered to Attard.
Officers attended Haik's home on April 5 last year to arrest him, but footage shows him armed with a baseball bat as he fires two shots from an imitation firearm when they entered the address before he was safely detained.
Former Come Dine With Me winners Nicholas Panayiotou, left, and Eleanar Attard, right, were convicted of being in a drugs gang
The pair, circled, appeared on Channel 4 's Come Dine With Me: The Professionals with their Touch of Greek restaurant in Chingford, east London in July 2022
Panayiotou was sentenced to four years and one month in prison while Attard was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months
Panayiotou and Attard had travelled to a hotel in Chingford and their Touch of Greek restaurant after the theft was carried out.
When officers examined Panayiotou's phone, they found evidence on a WhatsApp group chat that the theft was part of a wider conspiracy to import and steal a large amount of cannabis, the Met said.
The chat contained details of a plan to smuggle the cannabis into the UK, and a plot to steal the cannabis from the two women recruited to import it by posing as customs officers.
Three videos taken the day after the theft at the restaurant were also found on
