Sources have told MEE that Khashoggi was tortured, murdered and dismembered by a hit squad of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul to kill him.

Focus on the body

The location of Khashoggi’s remains has become a key part of the Turkish investigation.

Anonymous Saudi officials have told Western media outlets in recent days that Khashoggi’s corpse was rolled into a carpet and handed to a “local collaborator” to dispose of.

This account has been denied by a Turkish source close to the investigation, who told MEE that Khashoggi was cut into 15 pieces by Saudi forensic pathologist Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy.

According to the Turkish source, there was no carpet involved.

"They did not roll anything up in anything," the source said.

Investigations have now led Turkish authorities to believe that part of Kahshoggi’s body was carried out of Turkey by one of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bodyguards.

Maher Abdulaziz Mutrib left Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on 2 October, the day of Khashoggi’s death, on a private jet with tail registration HZ-SK1.

As he travelled using a diplomatic passport, the intelligence officer’s large black bag was not checked by security. Neither was the plane, which departed at 18:20.

A second jet, with registration HZ-SK2, carried another batch of the 15 suspects, but was searched as by then the alarm had been raised that they might be behind Khashoggi’s disappearance.

MEE understands that the Turkish prosecutor-general has accrued enough evidence to charge all 15 Saudi suspects with murder, but is waiting until some or all of Khashoggi’s body has been recovered to issue a final report.

Turkish investiagtors have for days been scouring the consulate, the consul-general’s house and woodland areas on the city’s outskirts for Khashoggi’s remains. The probe has also taken them to the town of Yalova, some 90km from Istanbul.

So far, the search for Khashoggi’s corpse has been fruitless.

Arms sales suspended

Despite Riyadh’s admission that its operatives were at fault for Khashoggi’s death, and statements of remorse from members of its leadership, international outcry over the apparent murder is growing.

Over the weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would suspend arms sales to the kingdom.

"First, we condemn this act in the strongest terms," the German leader said.

"Second, there is an urgent need to clarify what happened - we are far from this having been cleared up and those responsible held to account ... As far as arms exports are concerned, those can't take place in the current circumstances."

And on Monday, the German economy minister called on all European countries to do the same.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was considering cancelling a multi-billion-dollar defence contract with Riyadh.

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