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According to a state-run Turkish news agency, investigators and sniffer dogs are involved in searches in a villa as part of the investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Police raided Monday a Saudi mansion in northwestern Turkey after investigators determined that the man had been in contact with one of the suspects during the raid. of the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, announced Turkish officials.
Investigators and other officials, assisted by sniffer dogs and a drone, searched the luxury villa located near the city of Termal, in Yalova province, before expanding their searches on the ground of the neighboring villa, announced the Anadolu public agency. The agency said the police were looking for the journalist's remains.
The Istanbul prosecutor's office said that Mansour Othman Abbahussain – a member of a 15-member team sent from Riyadh to kill Khashoggi – contacted the owner of the mansion, Mohammed Ahmed Alfaozan, by phone one day before the killing of Khashoggi October 2nd.
"He is appreciating that this conversation was about the disposition (or) the concealment of Jamal Khashoggi's body after its dismemberment," reads a statement by the prosecutor. He did not mention possible results on the site.
Turkey has maintained pressure on Saudi Arabia following the assassination of US columnist The Washington Post. Khashoggi was a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A 15-member assassination squad sent from Riyadh strangled and dismembered Khashoggi. His remains must still be found.
Ankara insists that the orders of assassination came from the highest levels of the Saudi government, but not from King Salman. Among the Saudi agents at the origin of the murder, were members of the entourage of the Crown Prince's security.
Saudi Arabia first stated that Khashoggi had left the consulate before reporting his story of what happened between the Turkish intelligence services. Riyadh is now seeking the death penalty for five members of the strike group, ostensibly to defuse the international outrage over the killing and to move the Crown Prince's operation away.
Saudi prosecutors contend that the 15-person team sent to Istanbul exceeded its authority when the team's chief negotiator decided to kill Khashoggi for refusing to give order on his return.
The Anadolu agency, without naming a source, said the owner of the mansion was outside of Turkey at the time of the murder and had not returned in the past two months. The search focused on a well located on the grounds of the first villa, which was draining water with special equipment, the agency reported.
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