Argentine police investigating the death of Liam Payne returned to his hotel room in an apparent search for his Rolex watch worth £30,000, which is still reported missing.
Two uniformed officers arrived this morning at the CasurSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires where the former One Direction star and soloist rushed to his death almost four weeks ago.
The Mail understands officers headed to the third-floor bedroom where Liam, 31, fell while searching for the singer’s gold Rolex.
While the luxury hotel remains open to the public, amid heightened security, the singer’s suite has remained cordoned off and guests are kept away from it.
He was seen wearing the expensive watch on CCTV footage on the day of his death, October 16, but it was not on his body and all efforts to locate it have so far failed, raising fears it may have been stolen.
CasaSur Palermo, where Liam Payne tragically fell from his balcony and died on October 16 in Argentina
Police were seen coming and going from the hotel this morning, as the search continues for the singers who lost the £30,000 Rolex watch.
The singer’s suite remains cordoned off and guests cannot access it.
The designer watch was also not found in last week’s raids on the homes of three men who have been considered suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation.
Nor was it at the homes of two female companions who are being treated as witnesses after Liam spent his final 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.
The respected Argentine newspaper La Nación reported over the weekend that the hotel would be searched again for the watch in case it had been lost in a previous search.
A judicial source told La Nación: ‘We know from analyzed images 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 or three hours before his fatal fall at the hotel. We looked for him in his hotel room and couldn’t find him.
‘The watch was searched at the homes of the three people investigated on suspicion of abandoning Liam and supplying and facilitating drugs, as well as the homes of the two female companions who were with him in his room on the afternoon of his death. .
‘The room is still closed by court order and no one can enter.
“The initial priority was to search the homes of people Liam had contact with before his death for the watch, but a further inspection will now be carried out to see if it remains somewhere in his room.”
One of three suspects investigated over Liam’s death has insisted he did not supply him with drugs or accept money from him.
Braian Nahuel Paiz, an Argentine waiter, denied being Liam’s drug dealer but admitted using drugs with him in an interview on local television on Saturday.
Argentine waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, accused of being the singer’s ‘trafficker’ in an ongoing investigation, admitted to having had two meetings in a hotel with the 31-year-old singer.
A photo showing Paiz with Liam Payne, supposedly during their first arranged meeting at a hotel.
Liam’s last Snapchat post before falling 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, and then exchanged contact details while the pop star dined with friends.
In statements to journalist Guillermo Panizza for Telefe Noticias, Paiz admitted that his home was raided, but stated that he has not yet been interrogated by investigators.
He said: ‘I never supplied drugs to Liam… Liam’s first contact with me was at my workplace.
‘We exchanged details and saw each other later that night. Everything was normal. He came down from his hotel room to look for me because I was lost.
He continued: ‘We met there and he showed me some of the music he was going to put out.
‘I’ve heard that he took drugs, but the truth is that when he arrived at the restaurant where I worked he was already under the influence of drugs and he didn’t actually eat anything.’
Paiz claims he was smoking marijuana while Liam was doing cocaine during the evening they spent together in their hotel room.
And he added: “We used drugs together, but I never used them or accepted money.”
Prosecutor Andrés Madrea said in a statement: ‘Illegal conduct was discovered for which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person with subsequent death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.’
Paiz’s interview comes after Liam’s “close friend”, Argentine businessman Rogelio “Roger” Nores, denied claims that he was one of the three suspects.
Liam looks at his laptop in the lobby of the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday at 4:26 p.m. The alarm was raised at 5:04 p.m. after his fall.
A drone view shows the balcony of 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.
She said: ‘I never left Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened.
‘There were over 15 people in the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left. “I never could 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 since then.”
He insisted he was not Liam’s manager and described him as “just my very dear friend”.
Nores added: “I am truly heartbroken by this tragedy and have been missing my friend every day.”
Early toxicology reports are said to have found Liam had “multiple substances”, including cocaine and alcohol, and traces of an antidepressant 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, following speculation that he had taken his own life.
They are said to have claimed that he was in a state of “partial or complete unconsciousness” when he fell to his death when he “did not know what he was doing.”
The singer’s father, Geoff, flew to Argentina two days after his son’s death and returned to the UK with his body to finalize 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 hometown of Wolverhampton.