Saudi operatives may have painted over crucial evidence at the consulate in Istanbul where dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared, Turkey's president declared on Tuesday, as authorities announced the Saudi consul's home is going to be searched.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said the Saudi consul's home in Istanbul is going to be searched, after investigators inspected the consulate overnight on Monday, and "toxic materials" examined, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The development in the fast-moving case came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh for a meeting with Saudi officials over Mr Khashoggi's fate, which has ignited a global political and diplomatic uproar.
CNN and other news outlets cited anonymous sources saying the Saudis may admit culpability for The Washington Post columnist's murder but describe it as an unauthorised rendition attempt gone wrong. Saudi officials have not commented on the reports, and have continued to insist that Mr Khashoggi walked out of the consulate shortly after arriving.
A joint team of Saudi and Turkish investigators and officials swarmed into the consulate Monday evening in a possible attempt to examine the facility for traces Mr Khashoggi.
Mr Erdogan, speaking to reporters in parliament on Tuesday, raised the possibility that parts of the consulate had been repainted.
The investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over
"The investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over," he said.
The family of Mr Khashoggi released a statement overnight calling for an international inquiry into his disappearance, saying they were in contact with him just before he entered the consulate on 2 October and vanished.
"We are sadly and anxiously following the conflicting news regarding the fate of our father after losing contact with him two weeks ago, when he disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul," said the statement.
"Our family is traumatised, and yearns to be together during this painful time. The strong moral and legal responsibility which our father instilled in us obliges us to call for the establishment of an independent and impartial international commission to inquire into the circumstances of his death."
Diplomatic missions across the world are often treated like foreign soil, enjoying immunity from local laws.
The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday called on Riyadh to waive its rights on its diplomatic missions in consul and give Turkish authorities access to all properties and staff. She called on both Riyadh and Ankara to publicly disclose all the information they had gathered about Mr Khashoggi's disappearance.
The residence of the Saudi consul general, located north of the consulate where Mr Khashoggi was last spotted entering by security camera footage leaked to Turkish and international media, may be a key element in the investigation.
A 15-man team of Saudi nationals that arrived in Istanbul hours before Mr Khashoggi's scheduled consular visit and made their way to the consulate, eventually drove away in black minivans with tinted windows to the consul-general's residence before heading back to the airport and leaving Istanbul aboard private jets, according to security camera footage and flight data released by Turkish authorities to local media.
