Report: 2 Saudis Pretended to Help, Had Different Task

The two men flew into Istanbul from Saudi Arabia to help with the Saudi investigation into the Oct. 2 disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi—or so the story went. Per Turkish media, that was just a cover: The Sabah newspaper reports the chemist and toxicologist were actually tasked with ridding the consulate of any crime-scene evidence prior to Turkish authorities being given the OK to search the place on Oct. 15. That allegation was backed up Monday by a senior Turkish official, reports the New York Times, which named the men as Ahmad Abdulaziz al-Jonabi, a chemist, and Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani, a toxicologist. They were part of the team that arrived on Oct. 11, and they were at the consulate daily from Oct. 12 to Oct. 17.

And while a Turkish official who serves as an adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that "all the findings point to his body parts being melted," the BBC reports Khashoggi's sons have publicly asked for their father's remains to be returned to them. "All what we want right now is to bury him in al-Baqi (cemetery) in Medina (Saudi Arabia) with the rest of his family," Salah Khashoggi said in an interview with CNN Sunday. (The prince reportedly bad-mouthed Khashoggi in a call to the White House.)