Saudis ‘lay in wait for Khashoggi and left Turkey quickly’
As Jamal Khashoggi prepared to enter the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, a squad of men from Saudi Arabia who investigators suspect played a role in his disappearance was ready and in place.
They had arrived from Riyadh, the Saudi capital, early that morning and checked in at two international hotels in Istanbul before driving to the consulate in the leafy Levent neighbourhood. By the end of the day, a 15-member Saudi team had conducted its business and left the country, departing on planes bound for Cairo and Dubai, according to flight records and the people familiar with the probe.
Turkish officials have previously said they believe that Khashoggi, a prominent journalist and critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the consulate. A Turkish official told the New York Times that the Saudi agents dismembered Khashoggi's body with a bone saw. “It is like Pulp Fiction,” the official said.
The New York Times also reported that Turkish intelligence had obtained a video of the killing, made by the Saudis to prove that it had occurred. The Turkish security establishment believes only the most senior Saudi leaders could order an operation of such scale and complexity.
Turkish officials, who are examining the squad’s movements, have now expanded their investigation to explore what happened at the residence of the Saudi consul general, Mohammed al-Otaibi, located 500m from the consulate.
A photograph taken from a Turkish police closed-circuit television camera outside the residence shows a Mercedes Vito van with tinted windows that security officials say transported some of those men from the consulate to the residence about two hours after Khashoggi entered the consulate. The Saudi Government has maintained that he left the consulate soon after he arrived. Before Khashoggi’s disappearance, US intelligence intercepted communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture him, according to a person familiar with the information. The Saudis wanted to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and lay hands on him there, this person said. It was not clear whether the Saudis intended to arrest and interrogate Khashoggi or to kill him, or if the US warned Khashoggi that he was a target, this person said.
Saudi officials have denied reports that they sent a 15-man team to Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared.
Two privately owned planes flying from Riyadh arrived in Istanbul on October 2, one before sunrise and the other in the late afternoon. A Turkish official linked the call signals of the two twin-engine Gulfstream IV planes to those that investigators believe carried the 15 Saudis. The planes are owned by Riyadh-based Sky Prime Aviation Services.
Data collected by AirNavRadarBox showed that the first of the two planes left Riyadh late on October 1 and touched down in Istanbul the following day at 3.15am local time. The first plane was carrying the part of the Saudi team that was awaiting Khashoggi at the consulate, investigators believe, when he arrived at 1.14pm to collect a document he needed for his upcoming marriage.
Turkey’s Government says it has seen no evidence supporting the Saudi claim that Khashoggi ever left the consulate alive. Turkish police operate at least one camera at the front of the building. Investigators have also examined footage that covers the rear of the mission. Closed-circuit TV camera feeds from the preschool opposite the rear entrance have been retrieved. A camera recorded Khashoggi entering the consulate, but he was never seen leaving.