Khashoggi murder: Police searching villa in NW Turkey

Turkish police are searching two villas in Yalova province in a probe related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Police and the gendarmerie forces took positions around the villas in Samanli village of Termal district, according to police sources.

A search inside a well in the garden of one of the villas is also underway.

Two fire trucks and crime scene investigation teams have also reached the spot.

Read: Trump rebuffs CIA conclusion linking MBS to Khashoggi killing as ‘feelings’

Yalova Governor Muammer Erol said that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office will make a final statement about the search operation.

Sniffer dogs and drones backed the operation.

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

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.