TURKEY accused Saudi investigators yesterday of removing evidence related to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after being sent to help the Turkish authorities.

An unidentified senior official confirmed a report in Turkey’s Sabah newspaper that an 11-member team of Saudi investigators who arrived in Turkey nine days after Mr Khashoggi’s murder to assist a joint Turkish-Saudi probe included experts on chemistry and toxicology who were reportedly charged with obfuscating the evidence.

The official said Turkey believes that two members of the team “came to Turkey for the sole purpose of covering up evidence” before Turkish police were allowed to search the Saudi consulate.

The fact that a clean-up team was dispatched suggests that Mr Khashoggi’s killing “was within the knowledge of top Saudi officials,” the anonymous official said.

The official also confirmed the Sabah report which identified the two experts as Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Janobi and Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani.