One of the last people to see Jay Slater is convicted drug dealer

One of the last people to see the missing Jay Slater is a convicted drug dealer.

Ayub Qassim, 31, was put behind bars nine years ago for orchestrating an operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs. He booked a holiday cottage, Casa Abuela Tina, near the secluded village of Masca for £40 a night under the name Ayub Abdul, reports the Mirror.

Jay spent the night at the cottage with two men on June 17, and hasn't been seen or heard from since 5am that morning. It's believed Qassim invited him back to the holiday flat after attending a rave in the south of Tenerife before he vanished the next day.

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Mr Qassim, along with an unidentified mate, spoke to Spanish police and extended his stay by an extra day to discuss Jay's disappearance.

Speaking to Mail Online, Qassim said: "The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive."

He also mentioned that he gave Jay a "blanket to sleep in" and there was no argument or fight between them. Jay could be seen with a cigarette draped in a red blanket in a photo he sent to friends on Snapchat at 7.30am the morning he went missing.

Mr Qassim said: "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.

"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. If I'd fallen out with him would he even come to mine?"

Mr Qassim has since travelled back to his family's home in East London. He insists he "hasn't done anything wrong" and maintains that he "hasn't got a problem" with Jay or his friends. Mr Qassim has been previously been named as the head figure of a crime syndicate in London that brought heroin and crack cocaine into Cardiff, for which he was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison.

A witness reported that Jay had also left the cottage that same morning to catch a bus back to his holiday flat. He had queried her on the timing of the next bus but upon learning it wouldn't arrive until 10am, he may have decided to make the 11-hour journey by foot back to his holiday home.

Jay had apparently boasted to friends on Snapchat about stealing a £12k Rolex watch on the eve of his vanishing.

Former Detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is in Tenerife investigating the disappearance on behalf of the Slater family, said: "We know that shortly before 6am on Monday the seventh of June, Jay left the area of Veronica Strip in [Playa de] Las Americas in a Seat Leon hire car with two males casually known to him."

"Jay and a number of his friends had spent time with them both over the previous two days. All three males including Jay travelled north by the main motorway, the TF1, to go to the two males' holiday rental, Casa de Abuela Tina, which was about an hour's drive away.

"On route, Jay posted a Snapchat saying he had stolen a £12,000 Rolex from a person. We've been unable to validate this in terms of reporting. However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject to later conversation between the friends."