Former UFC fighter Pietro Menga jailed for 15 years for drugs and firearms offences
Pietro Menga had a day job as a UFC fighter, but Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said he also had a "lucrative job as a middleman for an organised crime group".
The force said Menga was involved in sourcing "large quantities of cocaine".
On Tuesday, the former fighter was jailed after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to supply cocaine.
GMP officers became aware of Menga after the National Crime Agency infiltrated the once encrypted messaging platform EncroChat.
The 37-year-old was identified through messages where he openly discussed his girlfriend, his knee injuries from fighting and his home gym.
Under the username "wirelessshark", Menga also openly spoke about buying and selling drugs and guns.
He was involved in an estimated sale of drugs worth between £490,000 to £620,000, police said.
'Always good for a rainy day'
In one message, Menga refers to a Skorpion automatic machine gun as a "tastey [sic] bit of kit", adding the weapon was "always good for a rainy day".
Officers discovered several similar conversations of this nature, with Menga trying to source guns for others.
Menga was arrested on 15 January 2024.
EncroChat crackdown
Menga's arrest comes as part of GMP's response to the national takedown of EncroChat.
It came under Operation Foam, which has seen more than 300 arrests, with more possible.
GMP said it had arrested "kingpins", as well as "middle-tier criminals".
Detective Constable Shiels from GMP's Serious Organised Crime Group said: "The level that Menga operated at showed he clearly had an established list of criminal contacts, one which will have been built over several years under the radar, facilitated by the use of EncroChat."
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Glasgow Times
an hour ago
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However, what does that kick, what does that stamp have to do with your task? 'The defence suggest, at least as we understood it, that the kick and stamp and other aspects of the aftermath reveal that the officers were out of control from start to finish. 'We suggest from all of what you have seen and all of what you have heard from these three professional officers when they gave evidence is that you can be sure that the suggestion that they were out of control is false and wrong. 'We invite you to focus on the violence used by the defendants and not be distracted by what happened afterwards. That's what it is, a distraction and an example of an effort to try to complicate what is a simple case.' He said the claims by Amaaz that he did not realise that Pc Ward and Pc Cook were women when he struck them was a 'barefaced lie'. 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'He kicked Fahir in the head with what you may feel was a rugby-style kick. He said it was a light kick. In what world can this be said to be a light kick?' Mr Khan told jurors it was 'plain as the nose on my face' that Pc Marsden also pushed his Taser into the face of the defendants' mother, rather than the officer's belief that Amaad accidentally struck her. He said: 'To suggest her own son did it is plumbing the depths. 'It is very clear. This is Pc Marsden out of control. That's how she got her injury. She was not a threat.' The trial continues on Friday.
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
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It has caused all this to happen. It could have been avoided. 'One might think that the easiest thing to have done would have been to say 'excuse me sir, would you mind stepping outside so I can have a word with you'. 'What would be wrong with that? This was not the crime of the century. 'They all three of them grab hold of parts of his body without announcing themselves, that's crazy, 'This deliberate intentional plan led to unlawful force being applied. This is a group of officers led by Pc Marsden that flouts every procedure, every rule, every law. 'Fahir was terrified for his life. That's how this started.' Mr Khan said Pc Marsden's conduct after Amaaz was felled by a Taser strike was relevant. He said: 'When it comes to the kick and stamp we say that is typical of his behaviour from the beginning. 'When Fahir is on the floor almost motionless having been tasered, he is not a threat. 'Pc Marsden sought to justify the unjustifiable. 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Mobile phone footage of the incident on July 23 last year was shared on social media and went viral. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of assaulting three police officers and a member of public before he was felled by a Taser strike. Greater Manchester Police officers Pc Zachary Marsden, Pc Lydia Ward and Pc Ellie Cook entered the Terminal 2 car park paystation after reports that a male fitting Amaaz's description had headbutted a member of the public inside the airport minutes earlier. The Crown says Amaaz resisted and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, intervened as a 'high level of violence' was inflicted on the officers. In his closing speech to the jury on Thursday, prosecutor Paul Greaney KC said it was 'simple logic and common sense' that what happened subsequently was 'irrelevant as to why the defendants used the force they did'. He said: 'We don't shy away from that kick and stamp by Pc Marsden. However, what does that kick, what does that stamp have to do with your task? 'The defence suggest, at least as we understood it, that the kick and stamp and other aspects of the aftermath reveal that the officers were out of control from start to finish. 'We suggest from all of what you have seen and all of what you have heard from these three professional officers when they gave evidence is that you can be sure that the suggestion that they were out of control is false and wrong. 'We invite you to focus on the violence used by the defendants and not be distracted by what happened afterwards. That's what it is, a distraction and an example of an effort to try to complicate what is a simple case.' He said the claims by Amaaz that he did not realise that Pc Ward and Pc Cook were women when he struck them was a 'barefaced lie'. Pc Ward suffered a broken nose as she was floored by a punch to the face and Pc Cook was also knocked to the ground by a number of elbows and punches, the court has heard. Mr Greaney told jurors: 'Of course we know you will make fair allowance for the fast-moving and dynamic events but the suggestion he didn't know they were women cannot exist in the world we inhabit.' Mr Greaney said Amaad had 'no legitimate reason to seek to prevent the officers from carrying out their duty particularly in the circumstances where it must have been obvious his brother was resisting arrest'. His claims that he thought his brother was being choked by Pc Marsden was 'demonstrably untrue', said the prosecutor. Mr Greaney said the officers were doing what the law entitled them to do in their plan to seek to move Amaaz from the paystation area and then tell him outside he was under arrest. He said: 'What was going through their minds is we have a duty to perform and we are going to perform it. 'Conversely, what was going through the mind of the first defendant, Amaaz, was that he plainly knew that the people taking hold of him were police officers. He had just attacked a man in public in an international airport. What he did think they were there for?' Both defendants, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations and say they were lawfully acting in self defence or in defence of each other. Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Ward, causing them actual bodily harm. He is also accused of the assault of emergency worker Pc Cook, and the earlier assault by beating of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks cafe in T2 arrivals. Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm. In his closing submission, Imran Khan KC, defending Amaaz, said the incident may not have happened and 'gone viral' but for Pc Marsden. He said: 'Pc Marsden's decision-making has put his colleagues in danger. It has caused all this to happen. It could have been avoided. 'One might think that the easiest thing to have done would have been to say 'excuse me sir, would you mind stepping outside so I can have a word with you'. 'What would be wrong with that? This was not the crime of the century. 'They all three of them grab hold of parts of his body without announcing themselves, that's crazy, 'This deliberate intentional plan led to unlawful force being applied. This is a group of officers led by Pc Marsden that flouts every procedure, every rule, every law. 'Fahir was terrified for his life. That's how this started.' Mr Khan said Pc Marsden's conduct after Amaaz was felled by a Taser strike was relevant. He said: 'When it comes to the kick and stamp we say that is typical of his behaviour from the beginning. 'When Fahir is on the floor almost motionless having been tasered, he is not a threat. 'Pc Marsden sought to justify the unjustifiable. 'He kicked Fahir in the head with what you may feel was a rugby-style kick. He said it was a light kick. In what world can this be said to be a light kick?' Mr Khan told jurors it was 'plain as the nose on my face' that Pc Marsden also pushed his Taser into the face of the defendants' mother, rather than the officer's belief that Amaad accidentally struck her. He said: 'To suggest her own son did it is plumbing the depths. 'It is very clear. This is Pc Marsden out of control. That's how she got her injury. She was not a threat.' The trial continues on Friday.
