Turkey finds ‘toxic materials’ during probe into Khashoggi disappearance

Turkish police are investigating toxic materials found inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, where dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished two weeks ago, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

Speaking after police conducted a nine-hour search of the mission for clues into the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist’s disappearance, Erdogan also said some materials found inside have been painted over.

Turkish authorities have said they have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, and have shared evidence with countries including Saudi Arabia and the US.

Saudi Arabia, which had denied any role in Khashoggi’s disappearance, is now prepared to admit that he was killed during an interrogation that went bad.

“My hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us a reasonable opinion as soon as possible, because the investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over,” Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.

Meanwhile, a Turkish diplomatic source said investigators planned to widen their search on Tuesday to the residence of the top Saudi diplomat in Istanbul.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, did not say when the search of the consul’s home would take place.

Turkish TV stations have previously aired footage of a large vehicle leaving the consulate two hours after Khashoggi vanished and parking at the consul’s residence.

With Post wires