Saudi consulate staff tried to dismantle CCTV equipment at their Istanbul compound to help cover up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish media have claimed.
Workers attempted to tear out a security camera inside the building on October 2, the day the writer walked in and was killed, according to reports in Turkey.
Attempts were also made at tampering with a video system in the police security booth outside the complex days later, it is claimed.
According to Turkey’s pro-government Sabah newspaper, a member of staff at the consulate went to access the police security post video system at 1am on October 6.
Sabah said the same individual entered a digital lock code into the system to block access to footage showing movements at the entrance – including the moment Khashoggi arrived at the consulate.
However, Al Jazeera reports that police had already deciphered codes and accessed the system before the attempted tampering allegedly took place.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign minister has claimed a 15-man Saudi team that flew to Turkey before the killing of Jamal Khashoggi must have been acting on orders.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Mevlut Cavusoglu added that it was Saudi Arabia’s responsibility to tell Turkey what happened to the Khashoggi’s body, according to Anadolu news agency.
But he reiterated Ankara’s stance that the directions had not come from King Salman.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.