Detectives investigating the murder of a Salford man whose body has never been found are searching woodland at Clifton Country Park.
Michael Martin "disappeared off the face of the earth" three years ago.
He was last seen at a petrol station in Kearsley, Bolton, on August 7, 2016.
Police believe Michael - who was 25 when he went missing - was sucked in to Salford’s criminal underworld and that on the night before he vanished he collected several thousand pounds.
"We suspect that that money may have been from criminality and it may have been taken from other criminals," Detective Supt Lewis Hughes told the Manchester Evening News last year.
GMP confirmed the investigation was being treated as a 'non-body murder' and on the second anniversary of Michael's disappearance, announced a £50,000 reward for anyone who came forward with information to help catch his killer.
Michael had been living on his own in a flat in Westwood Avenue in Little Hulton when he went missing.
The crime gang he was involved with has links to drug dealing and high-value robberies.
Det Supt Hughes said some of Michael's friends were gang members - and that he believed they knew what happened to him.
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He described the investigation as 'the most complex murder case' he had ever been part of.
"A body has never been recovered, therefore a post mortem can’t take place, there are no witnesses that have come forward, there is no crime scene, no murder weapon. Michael has literally disappeared of the face of the earth," he said.
This week, a section of woodland at Clifton Country Park has been taped off by police.
A yellow evidence tent has been erected at the scene, as well as large floodlighting rigs.
The cordon is off a dirt track that leads away from the car park off Manchester Road.
GMP confirmed the area was being searched in connection with the murder investigation.
A spokesperson said: "We are currently carrying out a search on an area of land inside Clifton Country Park.
"The search is in relation to the investigation into the murder of Michael Martin."
Last year, Michael's mother Karen Williams spoke of the ‘torture’ of not knowing where his body lies.
"I know he is out there somewhere and to be never able to see him, or speak to him, or tell him how much I love him again is a nightmare every day."
She urged anyone with information to come forward, adding: "You can do it anonymously, but you have to do this, you have to have a conscience, you can’t live with this.
"We will never be at rest until we find out where my son is. We want to bring him home. We want some closure.
"I know people out there that know his whereabouts, that are keeping quiet about it, which is an awful thing to do. All I can say is for God’s sake please come forward."
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