Turkish investigators probing suspected toxic traces at Saudi consulate - Erdoğan

Turkish media has quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as saying police investigators have searched for traces of "toxic materials" at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared two weeks ago.

NTV television says Erdoğan made the comments to a group of journalists on Tuesday.
Some materials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared two weeks ago have been painted over, Turkey's Erdoğan said in a statement.
Speaking after Turkish police entered the consulate for the first time and searched the premises for nine hours, Erdoğan also told reporters that they were looking into toxic materials at the mission.

Turkish officials believe Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia previously called the allegation "baseless," but reports suggest they may acknowledge Khashoggi was killed there.

Turkish forensic investigators searched the consulate overnight. A Turkish official said on Tuesday the top Saudi diplomat's residence in Istanbul would also be searched.

Turkish officials have told Reuters that authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, and have shared evidence with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi Arabia has denied any role in Khashoggi's disappearance.

"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," Erdoğan told reporters in Ankara.

A Turkish diplomatic source said the investigators planned to widen their search on Tuesday to the residence of the Saudi consul. Turkish television channels have previously shown footage of a large vehicle leaving the consulate two hours after Khashoggi vanished and parking at the consul's residence.