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THE FAMILY of missing Brit teen Jay Slater have revealed fears of “third party” involvement after going almost three weeks with no answers.
Jay’s exhausted uncle, Glen Duncan, told The Sun in Tenerife today that he is now convinced others were involved in his nephew’s disappearance.
Doug Seeburg
Jay Slater, 19, vanished in Tenerife on June 17PA
Members of the new search team retracing Jay’s steps in the Tenerife mountains
Ian Whittaker
Doug SeeburgJay’s friend Lucy Law claims he called her shortly before 9am on June 17 to tell her that he was “lost in the middle of nowhere”, desperate for a drink and had one per cent battery left on his phone.
Glen told The Sun: “I’ve been thinking third party involvement from the start.
“There’s just some things that have already been out there.”
In a bombshell claim, Glen said today he was “baffled” by the police decision to rule out two men who Jay spent the night with at a £40-a-night Airbnb before he vanished.
Spanish cops have spoken to both men already and cleared them to return to the UK, dubbing them “irrelevant” to the investigation.
But there have been calls for police to speak to them again amid the ongoing mystery of Jay’s disappearance.
The Sun revealed one of the mystery men, Ayub Qassim, who insists he has nothing to hide – but the second known only as ‘Jonny Vegas’ has not come forward.
They drove Jay to the remote cottage in the mountains, high above the colourful strip of Tenerife’s club scene, after meeting him at a music festival.
Glen now believes the men – including convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, 31 – could help find the missing teen.
Jay’s worried uncle joined the teen’s dad Warren and his brother Zak alongside seven other volunteers today to retrace his last steps.
They spent hours in the unforgiving 25C heat trekking through mountainous terrain in the hope of finding a breakthrough.
Glen said: “Why would two lads hire a villa up here? They’re down on the strip, you know what it’s like down there.
“There’s millions of apartments and hotels down there in Los Cristianos and Las Americas.”
He added: “It’s so treacherous up here. Look at the state of me. I’m not a climber, I’m not a hiker.
“It’s so easy to get lost down there. There was a group of us and you can’t see anybody.
“It got to a point where I wasn’t even looking for my nephew, I was just trying to find my own way out to safety.
“I don’t know if he was afraid of someone or something.”
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has flown out to Tenerife to help, said he believes Jay was “afraid” as he left the Airbnb on the morning he disappeared.
Qassim flew back to his home in Barking, east London, just days after Jay vanished but insists he had no part to play in his disappearance.
He said Jay arrived at the remote cottage in Masca alive and left the following morning alive.
But Glen insisted: “The fact Qassim has come out and said all his [Jay’s] mates left him and he had nowhere to go – he was 10 minutes from his apartment in Los Cristianos.
“He’s not stupid. If he didn’t have a room key he could have gone to reception for a replacement.
“I don’t know what the police are taking seriously. I don’t know if they’re following up every single lead.
“I feel like marching down there myself and bursting into the police station.
“What are they actually doing now, the police, I mean they’re not searching with the helicopter are they?
“Are they doing door to door inquiries or sitting there looking at CCTV images?
“Who knows what the police are doing out here, who knows? They’re not really in touch, it’s all a bit sketchy. They don’t give anything away.”
Glen said he was “really close” to Jay and described him as “a great young lad with a massive circle of friends who loved the good time”.
He said: “He was looking forward to coming here.
“First lads holiday and we’ve all been there, haven’t we.
“I don’t know how long we’re going to be out here for. How long’s a piece of string?
“Debbie and Warren won’t be going anywhere.”
Glen also made an emotional comparison to the never-solved disappearance of Madeleine McCann today.
He said: “He’s not been found so you’ve got to cling on.
“I’m sure Madeleine McCann’s parents still cling onto that hope, that she’s somewhere on the other side of the world 20 years later.
“She’s never been found and there’s no proof of whatever has happened to her.”
Jay’s devastated uncle vowed: “We’re still holding onto hope – we have to because we don’t know.
“It’s just torture every day. It’s got to a point now where the sadness has gone and it’s just anger.”
Ayub Qassim, 31, is one of the two men Jay went back to an Airbnb with before he vanished
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak, trekking through the hills looking for Jay this week
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