THREE MEN FROM SALFORD ARE NAMED FOLLOWING THE ARREST OF THIRTY THREE OTHERS AS PART OF THE LARGEST POLICE OPERATION IN UK HISTORY

Three men from Salford have been arrested and charged after police carried out the biggest operation to dismantle organised crime that the UK has ever seen.

The trio were snared after an international law team based in France managed to crack open an encrypted communications platform known as EncroChat which was being used by criminals to arrange and coordinate criminal activity. This allowed police to monitor activity on the network which had been used to organise the shooting of Paul Massey on the doorstep of his home which led to his death on the 26th of July 2016.

Raids across the UK netted over £54m in cash with £1.7m of it coming from Greater Manchester, additionally there were six firearms, one of which was a machine gun and large quantities of drugs recovered.

Craig Walker, aged 38, of Howard Street in Salford was arrested and charged for conspiracy to possess a firearm with the intent to endanger life.

Jacob Smith, aged 19, of Quay View in Salford was arrested and charged with conspiracy to possess a firearm with the intent to endanger life.

Craig Cox, aged 31, of Lance Todd Close, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit robbery as well as conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money laundering.

All three are set to appear in court at a later date.