The court in Lublin decided on Friday to further arrest Patryk M. alias Big Bu. He is suspected of, among others, for participation in an organized criminal group involved in drug trafficking. The man pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor's office's application to maintain the preventive measure in the form of pre-trial detention and its further application until February 4, 2026. Patryk M. was considered by the District Court of Lublin-Zachód.
The spokeswoman for the District Court in Lublin, Judge Marta Śmiech, told PAP that the court accepted the prosecutor's request. She added that the court took into account the fact that there was a justified fear of the suspect escaping or hiding, as well as the fear of fraud, i.e. inducing false testimony, and the fact that the acts accused of Patryk M. would result in a severe penalty.
Patryk's defense attorney, M. Krzysztof Ways, told PAP that he intends to file a complaint against the court's decision. – In our opinion, there was a possibility for our client to respond freely, especially by offering a high property guarantee, which we increased to PLN 500,000. PLN – he noted.
The investigation into this case is being conducted by the Lublin branch of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office.
Proc. Katarzyna Calów-Jaszewska from the press department of the National Prosecutor's Office announced in a press release on Friday that the prosecutor had presented Patryk M. with five charges. They concern his participation in 2017-2018 in an organized criminal group operating in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, as well as other regions of Poland and the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Spain.
This group – according to the prosecutor's office – was involved in the purchase, production and marketing of significant amounts of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine, hashish, mephedrone, clephedrone and ecstasy.
Calów-Jaszewska informed that Patryk M. is suspected of, among others, for participation in the trade of 17 kg of marijuana with a black market value of approximately PLN 850,000. PLN and 2 kg of amphetamine worth approx. PLN 60,000. PLN, which he turned into a permanent source of income.
Additionally, Patryk M. is suspected of participating in a burglary of an Audi Q7 car worth PLN 60,000. PLN, in which the VIN identification numbers were then processed. Another charge concerns fraud in the sale of a car for PLN 41,000. PLN, which led the buyer to unfavorable disposal of the property. “Patryk M. committed this act in the face of recidivism,” the prosecutor noted in the statement.
Patryk M. was brought to the Lublin department of the National Prosecutor's Office on Thursday. After the hearing, his defense lawyers Krzysztof Ways and Łukasz Isenko told the media that their client refused to provide explanations, did not admit to the acts he was accused of, and even “questions the fact that such situations described in the allegations occurred at all.”
Patryk M. was detained on September 12 at the airport in Hamburg, from where – as the police reported at the time – he was planning to go to the United Arab Emirates. On November 6, the German side handed it over to Poland. Last week, Patryk M. alias Wielki Bu was handed over to the Polish side by the German authorities on the basis of a European arrest warrant.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek also announced the charges brought against Patryk M. on social media. “This was possible thanks to the consistent work of the prosecutor's office and international cooperation, which shows that no one can hide from responsibility – even outside the country,” wrote the minister.
Big Bu is known, among others, from participating in freak-fight MMA galas. In May 2024, controversy arose over a photo he took at the National Education Office of the Institute of National Remembrance with the then president of the Institute of National Remembrance, Karol Nawrocki, and published on social media with the caption: “It was hard not to accept the invitation, so since I was in the capital anyway, I came to see how Karol is doing in this institution.” Later, he also published a photo with Nawrocki at a cafe table with the caption: “Such as with the president of the Institute of National Remembrance having a coffee. It's always good to listen to a wise man.”
During the presidential campaign, the media and some politicians criticized Nawrocki for contacts with Wielki Bu as a “member of a gang of pimps”. Nawrocki, whose passion is boxing, told “Rzeczpospolita” in the fall of 2024 that he met him several years ago in a boxing gym, they fought “with each other in a sports formula: officially, in the boxing gym, among many other players”, and then they did not see each other for many years. He added that he would not comment on “criminal issues” and that he had no idea about them. In turn, in an entry on the X platform, Nawrocki wrote, among other things, that “he appreciates his opponents in the ring for fighting, but he is not responsible for their lives outside sports.” (PAP)
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