POLICE have warned people against attending illegal "highly dangerous" raves.

In June 2020 GMP responded to two large illegal raves in Greater Manchester - in Daisy Nook and Carrington.

In May last year, Police pre-emptively shut down a planned rave in Rivington, after rumours of the party were posted on social media.

And in March, 12 people were issued with coronavirus fines in Healey Nab Quarry, north of Horwich.

One of the June raves saw the death of a member of the public, while many others were injured, including police officers

Since the raves, Greater Manchester Police has had a dedicated operation in place to scan intelligence and to supply extra resources around hot spot areas to ensure they stop the events taking place.

A large number have already been prevented by reacting to intelligence. Officers will proactively visit the addresses of organisers and issue a cease and desist letter to stop the illegal activity taking place.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "Policing these illegal events means that a large amount of resource is pulled away from potentially more critical incidents so we urge you not to attend.

"You may face arrest and prosecution if you are found at an illegal rave. We all have individual responsibility for protecting ourselves and those around us, which is especially important as we are still in a pandemic."

ACC Chris Sykes said: "Our message is clear; these events are unacceptable, they put lives at risk and they will not be tolerated. If you are thinking of attending an illegal rave please stop and think whether it's worth potentially risking your life for.

"There will continue to be a dedicated policing operation taking place over the weekend, with a much higher police presence in potential hotspot areas. When we see illegal activity taking place, we will take action.

"Many illegal raves are prevented due to reports we receive from members of the public. Thank you for continuing to contact us with any information you have, we act on all intelligence supplied to us and due to this you are helping prevent these dangerous events from taking place."

If you have any information that you would like to report to us, you can call 101 or report it online at gmp.police.uk.