Did Saudi intel officer Mutreb smuggle Khashoggi’s dismembered body abroad?

Saudi intelligence officer and former diplomat Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, who allegedly played a "pivotal role" in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is thought to have smuggled the journalist’s remains out of the country in his bag as diplomatic passport-holders are not obligated to put their carry-ons through an X-ray machine and are exempt from security checks.

Mutreb arrived from Riyadh to Istanbul on Oct. 2 on a private jet, and his bags were not checked when he left the country due to his diplomatic immunity. He passed through passport control at 03:38 a.m. and stayed at the Movenpick Hotel during his visit before leaving the country at 05.49 p.m.

47-year-old Mutreb was a diplomat in the Saudi embassy in London and has travelled frequently with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi vanished after entering the consulate on Oct. 2 to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage. He was a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post and critical of the Saudi government, calling for reforms.

After denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, 59, for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning said he had died in a fistfight at the consulate. An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold, which a senior official reiterated.

Yeni Şafak daily on Monday reported that Mutreb also called Badr Al Asaker, the director of the private office of the crown prince, on his cell four times after the “fistfight” that resulted in the journalist’s death.

Turkish police are also searching a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul and a city near the Sea of Marmara for Khashoggi’s remains.