THREE men have been charged with in connection with the supply of Class A drugs following a series of dawn raids yesterday.

The raids were carried out at 6am on Thursday morning across Worsley, Whitefield and Cadishead as part of an ongoing police investigation into organised crime.

Reece Bradbury, 27 of Pulman Grove, Worsley, Christopher Winder, 42 of Melville Road, Cadishead and Daniel Sanders, 31 of Ash Tree Road, Hyde have now all been charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, namely cocaine, joining more than 200 people arrested as part of Operation Goodwin, Greater Manchester Police's ongoing probe into drug and gun crime.

Detective Inspector Justin Bryant said: "These individuals may feel untouchable, but I hope these figures clearly demonstrate that GMP, alongside the NCA and other law enforcement agencies, will ensure the law soon catches up with them."

Bradbury was also charged with conspiracy to supply Class B drugs, while Winder has been charged with possession of a gun.

All three have been remanded in custody and will appear before Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court.

Another man and two women who were also arrested in the raids have since been released under investigation.

The arrests were made after a longer term investigation into criminals across Greater Manchester's use of encrypted communication services to organise their crimes.

DI Bryant said: "The takedown of the encrypted Encrochat communication services has allowed us a deeper and more personal insight into the world that these people operate in and since 2020 we've been working tirelessly to decipher messages and identify all those involved in this activity."