A rapper is tying up police emergency lines by bombarding a force with nuisance calls.

He dials 999 before rapping to operators at Greater Manchester Police - who are not allowed to cut him off.

Despite officers blocking more than 60 SIM cards, the man has plagued them since January 2009.

Police said the man "has made thousands of calls where he chants, sings, raps, preaches and plays loud music to call handlers".

In the past three months he has made 700 calls, lasting between three and five minutes, slowing down the call handlers' response to other calls.

However, a police spokesman said there was never an occasion when a call was missed. The caller would have to put the phone down - the system would not let it ring out.

Supt Karan Leesaid the caller's "inappropriate outbursts" are putting "lives at risk".

During many of the calls, the operator answers the phone to be met with a barrage of music and rants.

His rapping is difficult to decipher but during one call he started shouting about his citizen's rights.

So far officers have managed to establish that most of the calls are made from the Moss Side and Trafford areas.

The call handlers are tied up for several minutes trying to deal with him because they have a "duty of care" to the caller - just in case there is a real emergency situation.

Call handling manager Jason Unsworth added: "You can never guess when this man is going to call up, and that's part of the problem.

"With the World Cup on at the moment,