Argentinian police investigating Liam Payne‘s death have returned to his hotel room in an apparent search for his £30,000 Rolex watch which is still reported to be missing.
Two uniformed officers arrived this morning at the CasurSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires where the former One Direction star and solo artist plunged to his death nearly four weeks ago.
The Mail understands that the officers headed up to the third storey room which Liam, 31, fell from in a continuing search for the singer’s gold Rolex.
While the luxury hotel remains open for business, amid beefed-up security, the singer’s suite has remained cordoned off with guests being kept away from it.
He was seen wearing the expensive timepiece in CCTV images on the day he died on October 16, but it was not on his body and all efforts to locate it have so far failed, leading to fears it had been stolen.
CasaSur Palermo, where Liam Payne tragically fell over his balcony to his death on October 16 in Argentina
Police were seen coming and going out of the hotel this morning, as the search for the singers missing £30,000 Rolex watch continues
The singer’s suite has remained cordoned off with guests being kept away from it
The designer watch was also not found in raids last week on the homes of three men who have been made suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation.
It was also not at the homes of two female escorts who are being treated as witnesses after Liam spent his last hours with them.
The suspects are said to be being investigated on suspicion of abandoning a person who subsequently died and supplying and facilitating drugs
Respected Argentinian daily La Nacion reported at the weekend that the hotel was due to be searched again for the watch in case it was missed in an earlier search
A judicial source told La Nacion: ‘We know from images that have been analysed that Liam had the watch on the day of his death.
‘He had it in one of his hands and he had it at least two to three hours before his fatal hotel fall. We looked for it in his hotel room and couldn’t find it.
‘The watch was searched for in the homes of the three people being investigated on suspicion of abandoning Liam and the supply and facilitation of drugs, as well as in the homes of the two female escorts who were with him in his room the afternoon he died.
‘The room is still sealed off by court order and no one can enter.
‘Searching for the watch in the homes of the people Liam had contact with before his death was the initial priority but now another inspection will take place to see if it remains somewhere in his room.’
One of the three suspects being investigated over Liam’s death has insisted he did not supply him with drugs or accept any money from him.
Braian Nahuel Paiz, an Argentinian waiter, denied being Liam’s drug dealer, but admitted consuming drugs with him in an interview on local TV on Saturday.
Argentinian waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, who has been accused of being the singer’s ‘dealer’ in an ongoing prosecution probe, admitted to two hotel meetings with the 31-year-old
A photo showing Paiz with Liam Payne, allegedly during their first arranged meeting at a hotel
Liam’s last post on Snapchat before he fell to his death from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires
Paiz, 24, claimed he met the Strip That Down singer at the restaurant where he worked, later exchanging contact details while the pop star dined with friends.
Speaking to journalist Guillermo Panizza for Telefe Noticias, Paiz admitted that his home had been searched, but claimed he had yet to be questioned by investigators.
He said: ‘I never supplied Liam with drugs… Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work.
‘We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.’
He continued: ‘We got together there, and he showed me some of the music he was going to bring out.
‘I’ve heard people saying he was taking drugs, but the truth is that when he got to the restaurant where I was working, he was already under the effects of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.’
Paiz claim that he was smoking marijuana while Liam was taking cocaine during their evening together in his hotel room.
He added: ‘We took drugs together, but I never took drugs to him or accepted any money.’
Prosecutor Andrés Madrea said in a statement: ‘Illicit conduct was discovered from which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.’
Paiz’s interview comes after Liam’s ‘close friend’, Argentinian businessman Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, denied claims that he was one of the three suspects.
Liam looks at his laptop in the CasaSur Hotel lobby in Buenos Aires on Wednesday at 4.26pm The alarm was raised at 5.04pm following his fall
A drone view shows the balcony on the CasaSur Hotel from where Payne fell to his death
Speaking to MailOnline last week, he claimed to have left the CasaSur hotel, 40 minutes before Liam’s death. He denied any involvement in the tragedy.
He said: ‘I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
‘There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. I could never have imagined something like this would happen.’
Nores said he had given his statement to the prosecutor on October 17 as a witness and had not spoken to ‘any police officer or prosecutor ever since’.
He insisted he was not Liam’s manager and described him as ‘just my very dear friend’.
Nores added: ‘I’m really heartbroken with this tragedy and I’ve been missing my friend every day.’
Early toxicology reports are said to have found that Liam had ‘multiple substances’ including cocaine and alcohol, and traces of an anti-depressant in his system when he died.
Prosecutors appear to have ruled out third party involvement and ‘self-harm’, according to a lengthy statement released last Thursday, after speculation over whether he had taken his own life.
They are said to have claimed that he was in a state of ‘semi or total unconsciousness’ as he fell to his death when he ‘didn’t know what he was doing.’
The singer’s dad Geoff flew to Argentina two days after his son died and returned to the UK with his body to finalise funeral arrangements following visits to the makeshift shrine set up by Liam’s fans outside the hotel.
The funeral is expected to take place in Liam’s home city of Wolverhampton.