A convicted drug dealer who was with Jay Slater at an Airbnb the night before he disappeared has criticized online sleuths.
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The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn, Lancashire, went missing on June 17 after attending a rave with friends on the Spanish island of Tenerife.
Instead of returning to his shared accommodation with friends Lucy Mae Law and Brad Hargreaves, Slater decided to stay out with two British men he had met at the resort of Playa de las Américas.
The missing teen reportedly took a car journey with the men to their Airbnb, located 19 miles away from the beach club in the village of Masca. The farmhouse, called Casa Abuela Tina, was where he was last seen.
One of the men who stayed with Slater at the Airbnb is named Ayub Qassim, and he was jailed for nine years in 2015 for being the ringleader of a London-based gang dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Cardiff, as reported by The Sun.
It's also been claimed that the man - who booked the Airbnb under the name Ayub Abdul - is connected to a legal cannabis cafe in Tenerife owned by his childhood friend, rapper Potter Payper.
Internet detectives have been sharing conspiracy theories since Slater disappeared and tracked down Qassim's online accounts. According to The Sun, the man fired back at those people discussing his involvement in the missing case in a scathing post.
"Why you screenshotting my insta you absolute bunch of weirdos," he reportedly wrote. "I don't mind being tracked down got nothing to hide." He apparently told someone he has become renowned for "all the wrong reasons".
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The 31-year-old's post comes after he told the Daily Mail that the apprentice bricklayer "came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive".
"I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him. I know Jay, through friends, I'm not going to bring someone back to mine if I don't know them," Qassim explained.
"I'm doing the geezer a favor and now my face is all over the news. It's a bit mental. I haven't even done anything," he added.
Qassim was already interviewed by Spanish police along with another man. He is now back home in Barking, East London, and denied having any argument with Slater.
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Slater's close friend has also slammed "drug mule" conspiracy theories they have faced since the teen went missing. His friend Brad Hargreaves - who was with him the night before he went missing - has since been the target of abuse by online trolls.
He addressed the hateful comments he's received on social media, writing: “Thinkin' I’m involved in it all is beyond me," per The Sun.
“We’ve been mates for years, came on our first holiday together and unfortunately this has happened," he continued. "We ain’t drug mules or whatever.... people need to know the facts before talking s*** on the internet...”
The teen's mom, Debbie Duncan, provided an update on GoFundMe, sharing that local volunteer groups had offered to continue searching and that they are also in contact with “experienced groups” who have offered assistance.
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