Saudi Arabia has agreed to let Turkish authorities search the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate after prominent journalist and Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi went missing last week, the Turkish foreign ministry said Tuesday.

“Saudi authorities said they were open to cooperation and that a search can be conducted at the consulate building,” the ministry said in a statement.

The search will take place as part of the official investigation, which was being conducted “in an intense manner”, he said without giving any date.

There has been fierce speculation over what happened to Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who wrote for Arab and Western media, after he vanished on October 2 following a visit to the consulate to obtain official documents.

While Riyadh claimed he had left the consulate after his visit, Turkish police said Khashoggi did not emerge from the building.

Government sources said police believe the journalist was killed inside the consulate, accusations which Riyadh dismissed as “baseless”.

Source: AFP