Meeting of Saudi suspects in Turkey's Yalova 'linked' to Khashoggi body

A Turkish prosecutor on Monday said the meeting between one of the suspects in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing and a Saudi resident in Turkey's Yalova province was believed to be linked to the disappearance of Khashoggi's body.

The prosecutor said Mansoor Othman Abahusain, one of 15 Saudi suspects who entered Turkey on October 2, when Khashoggi was killed, called Saudi citizen Mohammed Ahmed Alfaozan on October 1 regarding disposal or safekeeping of Khashoggi's body.

Earlier on Monday, Turkish police carried out inspections at a villa in the northwestern province of Yalova as part of investigation into the killing, Anadolu Agency reported. 

Police searched a villa in the Samanli village of the Termal district in Yalova, the agency said.

The police and and the gendarmerie took security measures around the two storey villa, even as the drone-backed search was assisted by sniffer dogs as well.

TRT World's Alaattin Kilic reports from Yalova.

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.     

After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, weeks later the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, blaming a rogue group of Saudi operatives.

Turkish authorities have also previously carried out inspections at the kingdom's consulate and the consul general's residence in Istanbul. 

Reuters had reported last month that investigators widened their search to Yalova and a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul for the remains of the journalist.