Criminal fiancée drops in, as stated (9)

'stated' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'criminal fiancee drops in' is the wordplay.
'criminal' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for 'convict').
'fiancee' becomes 'intended' (intended can mean someone's fiancee).
'drops' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'intended' with 'in' taken out is 'tended'.
'con'+'tended'='CONTENDED'

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?