Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Photo:Wikipedia.

ReutersA group of 15 Saudis arrived in Istanbul, Türkiye, on October 2 to meet journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an unnamed senior Saudi official. The group threatened to drug and kidnap Khashoggi before killing him when he resisted. One member of the group even dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes to pretend he had left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

According to the official, Saudi Arabia wants to persuade Khashoggi to return home. He moved to Washington, USA, a year ago because he feared retaliation for his frequent criticism of the government.

To carry out the plan, the deputy head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, Ahmed al-Asiri, sent a team of 15 people to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi at the consulate. According to the unnamed official, the initial plan was for the 15 people, all from the security and intelligence forces, to take Khashoggi to a house on the outskirts of Istanbul "for a certain period of time" and then release him if he ultimately refused to return home.

However, things did not go as planned when the group of 15 people acted beyond orders and used force.

Khashoggi was taken to the Saudi consul general’s office, where an agent named Maher Mutreb tried to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia, but Khashoggi refused, telling Mutreb that someone was waiting for him outside. The agent would contact Turkish authorities if he did not return within an hour of entering the consulate.

Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, has said that he gave her two mobile phones and told her to wait near the consulate. If he did not return, she was to contact an aide to the Turkish president.

In the consul general’s office, Khashoggi told Mutreb that he was violating diplomatic protocol. “What are you going to do to me? Are you going to kidnap me?” Khashoggi asked Mutreb, according to an unnamed Saudi official.

“Yes, we will drug and kidnap you,” Mutreb replied.

As Khashoggi raised his voice, the Saudis began to panic. They rushed to restrain him, choking him and covering his mouth. “They tried to stop him from screaming but he was already dead,” the unnamed official said. “The original intention was not to kill Khashoggi.”

According to the source, to cover up the incident, the Saudis rolled Khashoggi in a carpet, took him out in a consulate car, and handed the body over to a "local accomplice" to dispose of it. Forensic expert Salah Tubaigy, one of the 15 people who went to Türkiye, tried to erase the traces.

Meanwhile, agent Mustafa Madani put on Khashoggi's clothes, glasses and watch and left the consulate through the back door to make it appear that he had left the building. Madani went to the Sultanahmet district to dispose of the belongings.

The group of 15 wrote a fake report to their superiors, claiming they had let Khashoggi go when he warned them about possible Turkish involvement.

Some have questioned why Saudi Arabia needed to send so many military officers and forensic experts to Türkiye if their goal was only to persuade Khashoggi to return home.

Riyadh has so far only announced that Khashoggi died at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul after a fight. Other relevant information such as the cause, developments of the fight and the current whereabouts of journalist Khashoggi's body have not been disclosed.