Jay Slater's dad warns it would take 'an army 10 years' to scour area teenager went missing in as he demands Interpol and British police to step in
Jay Slater's dad has called on Interpol and British police to step in
PA
The father of missing teenager Jay Slater has begged Interpol and British police to step in to help find his son, lamenting that it would take “an army 10 years” to search the entire area.
The 19-year-old flew from Lancashire to the Canary Islands for a music festival but disappeared after he went to stay with people he met during a night out on June 16.
During his final call to his friend Lucy Law at 8am local time the following day, the 19-year-old said his phone had only one per cent battery, he was thirsty, and he did not know where he was.
His last location showed he was in the Rural de Teno Park - an area popular among hikers. He has not been seen since.
Jay Slater's dad has called on Interpol and British police to step inPAThe official search led by local police, which involved teams scouring a 2,000ft-deep ravine, was called off on June 30, nearly 14 days after Slater went missing.
His family have remained to search the area, but dad Warren Slater, 58, has despaired that it will take much more manpower over a much longer period of time to find the teenager.
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “As a family, we need to ask the British authorities to help. He's a British citizen. Get Interpol involved.
“At the moment, it’s just us. I haven’t got a team. We need a team to come over here and find out for us what the police are doing and what we need to do. Our hands are tied over here - we need experts.
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Slater's last known locationGB News / Google Earth“It’ll take an army 10 years to cover all this. I’d employ a team of Gurkhas."
He also said officers needed to interview convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who was one of the last people to see Slater.
Qassim invited the 19-year-old back to his rented holiday cottage after a rave in Tenerife just hours before he disappeared but claimed Slater was keen to leave, saying he “wanted some scran”, and turned down a lift home promised after Qassim had rested.
Spanish authorities ruled out Qassim and a second man from the search following initial investigations.
Qassim told the Daily Mail: “The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive. I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him.
The wild Masca region of Tenerife where Jay Slater went missing Reuters“I know Jay, through friends, I'm not going to bring someone back to mine if I don't know them. I'm doing the geezer a favour and now my face is all over the news. It's a bit mental. I haven't even done anything.”
Debbie Duncan and Warren Slater, the parents of the missing teenager, have pleaded with local police to keep the case alive, after the two-week search was called off last week.
The decision to suspend the search left his family “blindsided”, but they will continue to stay in Tenerife to continue to look for the 19-year-old.
Juan Garcia, a private investigator, has said that the investigation ended too early, urging the missing teeanger’s family not to give up hope.
“Two weeks is too premature to end the search,” he told The Times.
“[Slater] could be alive somewhere — someone can drink from rainwater and eat plants.
“The family should not give up hope.”