Turkish police have discovered a tandoori oven at the Saudi consul-general's residency in Istanbul, which raises the possibility of having burnt the body of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The report which was published on Thursday said Turkish police found two wells and an oven inside the consul-general's residency.
“According to experts, the oven can heat up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, destroying any biological tissue and leaving no possibility to detect any DNA traces”, the police statement says.
Khashoggi, 59, an outspoken critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared after he entered the Saudi diplomatic mission in the Istanbul in October to complete some paperwork for his forthcoming marriage, but he never came out.
The prominent journalist had told his fiancée Cengiz Cengiz to call a top aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in case he did not emerge from the building.
After weeks of denials of any involvement, the Riyadh regime eventually acknowledged the “premeditated” murder, yet many questions including the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body went unanswered.
In October, the Middle East Eye cited Turkish investigators as saying the murder took seven minutes and Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, the head of forensic pathologist and a member of a Saudi hit squad began to cut the journalist’s body while he was alive.
Turkish police also realized following the murder, the Saudi hit team ordered 32 kilograms of raw meat from a restaurant in the neighborhood. That raised new questions about the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body which was previously considered to have been destroyed in acid or taken to Saudi Arabia.
"One cannot help but ask these questions. Was cooking up meat in the tandoori oven part of their premeditated plans? Of course these questions will be answered one day. The investigations aren’t completed yet," the report said.
The report added that sixty police officers and 100 intelligence agents were assigned to conduct a probe into the murder of the Saudi journalist.
It also said 224 people contacted the Turkish officials to provide information on Khashoggi’s disappearance and killing.
Although Istanbul and Riyadh agreed to conduct an investigation into the murder, the joint inquiry has made little progress, with the Turkish authorities considering the Saudi counterpart uncooperative.
Eleven Saudis suspected of being an accessory to the murder are on trial in Riyadh and five others face capital punishment.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to kill Khashoogi came from the "highest levels" of Saudi officials.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has also concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
