Turkish, Saudi officials examine Saudi consulate car

By Gokhan Yilmaz and Berk Ozkan

ISTANBUL

Turkish and Saudi officials examined on Tuesday a diplomatic car belonging to the Saudi Consulate found abandoned at a parking lot in Istanbul, security sources said.

Two suitcases and various items belonging to consulate employees were found in the diplomatic car with the number plate "34 CC 1736", said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The officials accompanied by sniffer and cadaver dogs left the site after a two-and-a-half-hour operation and the vehicle was also taken out from the parking lot.

Istanbul police had found the vehicle in the city's Sultangazi district last week and acquired permission of the chief prosecutor's office and the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia to examine it.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had gone missing since entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After days of denying to know his whereabouts, Saudi Arabia on Saturday claimed Khashoggi died during a fight inside the consulate.

On the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, 15 other Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while he was still inside, according to Turkish police sources. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.

His body has not been recovered and Riyadh has yet to explain its shifting narrative on what transpired.