Police have raided the hotel where Liam Payne fell to his death, as they demanded more CCTV footage in the hunt for a worker suspected of supplying drugs to the tragic star.
Officers entered the Casa Sur Palermo Hotel on orders from prosecutor Andres Madrea, who had met Payne’s father Geoff on Tuesday, and have been seen going through documents and examining equipment in the lobby.
They are investigating who could have sold the former One Direction singer drugs before he plunged from his third floor balcony at the hotel on Wednesday last week.
The popstar’s bodyguard Paul Higgins has been assisting police in reviewing security footage at the hotel, alongside Payne’s father.
Prosecutors said last week that they believed Payne was in ‘in a state of semi or total unconsciousness’ during a substance-induced ‘psychotic episode’ when he fell.
He died of multiple trauma injuries which had caused ‘internal and external haemorrhaging.’ His 25 ‘life-threatening’ injuries are believed to have included a skull fracture.
Investigators have indicated they do not suspect any ‘third party’ involvement but have made it clear the hunt is still on for his dealer amid speculation someone from the hotel was supplying him.
Sources were quoted as saying ‘the hotel must provide’ more security footage to investigators as well as information about employees, according to Us Weekly.
Argentinian news portal Infobae reported earlier this week that forensic experts had discovered traces of cocaine in Payne’s body but tests had so far proved ‘inconclusive’.
Other unconfirmed reports originating in the US claimed a cocktail of drugs including designer narcotic ‘pink cocaine’ – containing MDMA, ketamine and methamphetamine – had been found in his system during a partial autopsy, along with crack cocaine and benzodiazepine.
The hotel raid involved Buenos Aires City Police belonging to a Special Investigations Division, as well as a Technology Investigations Unit.
They spent most of their time in reception but officers are also understood to have gone up to the third floor suite in which Payne had been staying.
Argentinian TV reporter Guiliana Salguero said overnight: ‘We understand a person who was part of the hotel staff has been suspended after being linked to the supply of drugs to Liam Payne.
‘We’ll have to see how that now plays out. It is a person who worked in the hotel’s restaurant.’
There has not yet been any official comment from the hotel about the police operation and the claims that a member of its staff was being investigated.
Payne’s father told prosecutors earlier this week he wants the truth to come out and is ready to ‘tell them everything he knows’ to aid the ongoing inquiries.
He was told during his meeting with Mr Madrea that the full autopsy results have not been concluded and he will not be able to fly back to the UK with his son’s body until toxicology and tissue tests are complete.
A public prosecution spokesman said: ‘During the meeting with Mr Madrea the musician’s father expressed his desire for an investigation and his wish to know what happened, and told the prosecutor that he was willing to testify about everything he knows about his son’s life that could help the probe.
‘The representative of the public prosecutor’s office informed the father that the toxicological and histopathological studies complementary to the autopsy have not yet been completed, and that their results are necessary to decide on the release of the body.’
Officials also confirmed that investigators were still analysing ‘mobile phones, computers, photographs and CCTV footage’, adding: ‘They will require a longer period of analysis.’
Last week prosecutors said they had interviewed three hotel workers, as well as two women who had spent time with Payne before he died and who were subsequently identified as prostitutes.
They said on Tuesday that efforts to piece together information on the singer’s last hours was continuing with ‘hotel workers, acquaintances, technical and medical professionals and other people linked to him through his work’.
Payne is known to have spent time with Argentinian businessman Rogelio Nores, who is understood to have given a statement to investigators.