Floodlights and a drone have been deployed in the search of the Saudi consul general’s residence in Istanbul after Turkish investigators were finally allowed access to the property, where it is believed a Saudi hit squad sent to silence the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi disposed of his remains.
Local news agencies in Istanbul also reported that the search for Khashoggi’s body had been extended to two woodland areas outside the city, significantly increasing the geographical scope of the investigation.
The vast expanse of Belgrad Forest and farmland in Yalova province were new leads for police after investigators used surveillance footage from hundreds of cameras around the city to determine whether vehicles owned by the Saudi consulate had travelled there late on 2 October, the day Khashoggi vanished.
As the investigation into Khashoggi’s suspected murder continued, Donald Trump’s administration took its first step to distance itself from the Saudi regime.
The treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, announced that he would not be attending this week’s government-sponsored investment conference in Riyadh, joining an exodus of western corporate leaders.
“Just met with Donald Trump and Secretary [of State] Pompeo and we have decided, I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Arabia,” Mnuchin tweeted.
A Turkish forensic science team left the consul general’s residence early on Thursday after conducting a nine-hour sweep of the building and of consular vehicles. The consulate was also searched for a second time.
Of particular focus to investigators appeared to be the garage below the consul general’s home, and parts of the property’s garden were dug up.
ProfileWho was Jamal Khashoggi?
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Jamal Khashoggi was one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists and commentators. He was an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia who dared to defy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
While living in Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi was told to stop writing or posting on Twitter, where he had more than 1.6 million followers. He moved to the US in June 2017, where he continued to comment on his country both in print and on television. He wrote columns for the Washington Post and the Guardian.
His message struck a nuanced tone in the US, where he tried to acknowledge the reforms undertaken by Bin Salman while also highlighting the flaws.
Khashoggi previously had close links with the Saudi royal family, including having served as a media aide to Prince Turki al-Faisal, when the latter was director general of the Saudi intelligence agency.
He was also a former editor of the Saudi newspaper al-Watan and had worked with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a grandson of the first Saudi king.
Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
The consul general, Mohammad al-Otaibi, left the country with his family for Riyadh on Tuesday, after it was announced that his residence would become part of the criminal investigation.
It was not immediately clear what the search revealed, but investigators took several boxes and bags away with them. The Turkish interior ministry promised the results would be “shared with the world”.
Meanwhile video recordings leaked to Turkish pro-government newspaper Sabah drew another link between a suspect in the case and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any knowledge of Khashoggi’s alleged murder.
Photographs published on Thursday, taken from surveillance video cameras outside the consulate, identified a man thought to be a member of the crown prince’s security staff entering the building on the morning of 2 October.
The suspect is seen arriving with several other men at 9.55am. Khashoggi arrived for an appointment at 1.14pm.
Sabah also published stills from videos that day showing the same man outside the consul general’s home and later checking out of a nearby hotel. The pictures match the profile of one of the 15 Saudi nationals photographed two weeks ago at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. Turkish officials believe the team was behind the alleged murder inside the diplomatic mission.
A previous search of the consulate on Monday night revealed “toxic substances” and freshly painted surfaces, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told reporters.
The Trump administration has sought to isolate the crown prince from any blame for the alleged murder, but Mnuchin’s 11th-hour withdrawal from the Riyadh conference appeared to reflect a recognition that the Turkish investigation is likely to be damaging.
Speaking at the White House after briefing Trump on his trip to Riyadh and Ankara, Mike Pompeo said: “I told President Trump this morning that we ought to give them a few more days to complete [the inquiry] so that we would have complete understanding of the facts surrounding that, at which point we can make decisions about how, or if, the United States should respond to the incidents surrounding Mr Khashoggi.
“I think it’s important for us to remember that we have had, since 1932, a long strategic relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Trump later told reporters that it “certainly looks” as though Khashoggi was dead, but said he was still waiting for details from “about three different investigations”.
Asked what the consequences would be if Saudi leaders were linked to the journalist’s disappearance, Trump said: “Well, it’ll have to be very severe. I mean, it’s bad, bad stuff, but we’ll see what happens.”
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who moved to the US in self-imposed exile last year, has not been seen since he visited the consulate on 2 October to pick up paperwork for his planned marriage.
Over the past two weeks Turkish officials have leaked increasingly shocking evidence that they say proves that the journalist, who was critical of the Saudi crown prince, was tortured and killed inside the building and his dismembered body driven to the nearby consul general’s house where it was disposed of.
Turkish and US media published details from a three-minute audio recording on Wednesday that Turkish officials described as proof that Khashoggi had his fingers severed during an interrogation. His killers then allegedly beheaded him and cut up his body with a bone saw brought by a forensic science specialist who travelled with the assassination team.
Riyadh has denied the allegations.
On Thursday, the UK’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, joined a growing list of government ministers and prominent business executives cancelling their attendance at the Saudi Arabia investment conference.
The UK’s Department for International Trade said the “time is not right” for Fox to go to the Future Investment Initiative on 23 October. Le Maire said his absence would not jeopardise French relations with the Saudis.