RIYADH, Nov 15 (KUNA) -- Saudi Arabia officially announced on Thursday that the Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi had been murdered with an overdose of drug injection at the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey.
Official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said in its English-language broadcast, quoting a spokesman of the public prosecution at a news conference, "The investigation concluded that the crime was carried out after a physical altercation with the victim where he was forcibly restrained and injected with a large amount of a drug resulting in an overdose that led to his death, May Allah bless his soul.
"The investigation has identified those that ordered and carried out the murder, totaling five individuals that have confessed to the murder.
"After the murder, the victim's body was dismembered by the individuals that committed the murder and was transferred outside the consulate building.
"The investigation concluded that the body was removed from the Consulate building by five individuals.
"The individual who delivered the body to the collaborator has been identified.
"Based upon the description provided by the individual who delivered the body to the collaborator, a composite sketch of the collaborator has been produced."
SPA quoted the spokesman as saying that through the investigation, carried out up to date with the 21 suspects in the case of the murder of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi, the investigation concluded that "the incident began upon the issuance of an order to bring back the victim by means of persuasion, and if persuasion fails, to do so by force. The former Deputy President of the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) issued this order.
Elaborating, the prosecution spokesman said the leader of the mission formed a 15-member team that consisted of three groups (negotiations/ intelligence/ logistics) "to persuade and bring back the victim." The spokesman adds, "The leader of the mission contacted a forensics expert to join the team for the purpose of removing evidence from the scene in the case force had to be used to return the victim. The forensics expert joined the team without the knowledge of his superiors.
"The leader of the mission contacted a collaborator in Turkey to secure a safe location in case force had to be used return the victim.
"After surveying the Consulate, the head of the negotiation team concluded that it would not be possible to transfer the victim by force to the safe location in case the negotiations with him to return failed. The head of the negotiation team decided to murder the victim if the negotiations failed. The investigation concluded that the incident resulted in murder.
"The investigation concluded that the crime was carried out after a physical altercation with the victim where he was forcibly restrained and injected with a large amount of a drug resulting in an overdose that led to his death, May Allah bless his soul.
"The investigation has identified those that ordered and carried out the murder, totaling five individuals that have confessed to the murder.
"After the murder the victimآ’s body was dismembered by the individuals that committed the murder and was transferred outside the consulate building.
"The investigation concluded that the body was removed from the Consulate building by five individuals.
"The individual who delivered the body to the collaborator has been identified.
The investigation established that the surveillance cameras in the Consulate were disabled, and the investigation identified the individual responsible for doing so." (end) mdm.rk