The search for missing British teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife has been scaled back almost four weeks after his disappearance, despite 'significant new intelligence' being passed to Spanish police. The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire vanished on the morning of June 17 after a night out with friends.
Jay had been partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas and left with two British men, including Ayub Qassim, to an Airbnb near the remote village of Masca. He called a friend at around 8.30am saying he was lost with no water and 1% phone battery. His last known location was in the Rural de Teno Park.
Spanish police conducted a two-week ground search focused on ravines and mountainous terrain but called off the on-the-ground search on June 30. However, they insist several lines of inquiry are still being pursued. Former Met Police officer Mark Williams-Thomas claimed to have received 'a significant new piece of information' which he passed to both British and Spanish authorities.
Jay's parents, Warren Slater and Debbie Duncan, remain on the island along with his brother Zak, while his friends returned to the UK. A TikTok detective known as ChristopherTenerife said he found a pair of sunglasses similar to those Jay was last seen wearing, near where the teenager's phone signal was last detected, and criticised the police search as insufficient.
Investigations have also revealed a link between Jay's case and Tenerife's network of cannabis clubs through Ayub Qassim, who was previously imprisoned for a drug trafficking scheme. Williams-Thomas previously stated that the disappearance has links to an 'established criminal network'.
