Khashoggi drama: All the latest updates

Turkish police and forensic investigators have ended their search of the Saudi consul general’s residence in Istanbul, with reports saying they have collected “samples” which could be “convincing in terms of evidence” in the case of missing dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A Reuters witness said that the investigators had left the residence of Mohammed al-Otaibi early on Thursday after an almost nine-hour search at the building. The council general had earlier flown from Turkey back to Saudi Arabia.

Al Jazeera cited sources in the Turkish prosecutor’s office as saying that “samples” were recovered from the scene.

“Whether these were samples of DNA or blood samples is unclear. Apparently, according to sources, these were quite convincing in terms of evidence,” Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported from outside the home in Istanbul.

The report said the garage and garden had also been searched, and that Turkish investigators were seen leaving the building with boxes and bags.

“A number of vans have left the scene. They’ve been digging the garden in the rear and also have been upstairs doing intensive forensic work,” said Al Jazeera.

The investigators also searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for a second time as part of a probe into the case of Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Riyadh regime who vanished at the mission on October 2.

Footage showed the investigators leaving the mission with bags and boxes.

They used bright lights to illuminate the consulate’s garden and took away bags of evidence, including soil and DNA samples for further examination.

Ankara says it has evidence Khashoggi had been murdered inside the consulate by Saudi operatives. Riyadh, however, denies any involvement.

The Saudi consul general is a suspect in Khashoggi’s disappearance, which is being treated as a murder case.

According to contents of audio recordings of Khashoggi’s suspected murder reported by media, Otaibi had been present on the crime scene. The recordings themselves have not yet been released.

The New York Times, citing audio recordings from within the mission, reported that a team of 15 Saudi agents had been waiting when Khashoggi walked into the consulate to prepare documents for his upcoming marriage.

The report said that Khashoggi could have been dead within minutes, beheaded, dismembered, his fingers severed, and within two hours the killers had gone.

A senior Turkish official and a report in Yeni Safak newspaper said that the Saudi consul general could be heard in the audio recordings, telling the Khashoggi’s torturers, “Do this outside; you’re going to get me in trouble.”

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” one of the Saudi agents replied.

Some reports said that Saudi forensics specialist Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy could be heard putting on headphones to listen to music and telling other Saudi agents to do the same while dismembering Khashoggi’s body.

Turkish authorities said that Tubaigy was carrying a bone saw when he flew in and out of Istanbul.

In another report on Thursday, Yeni Safak said that one of the members of the Saudi hit squad had died in a “suspicious car accident” in Riyadh.

It identified the victim as Mashal Saad al-Bostani, a 31-year-old lieutenant of the Saudi Royal Air Forces.

The audio recordings are said to have been obtained by Turkish intelligence. Ankara has reportedly declined to share the evidence in its possession with the US.