A member of the team that killed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month asked a superior over the phone to “tell your boss,” believed to be an oblique reference to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, that the operation has been carried out, according to three people familiar with the recordings.
A New York Times report said the recording, which was submitted to the CIA director last month, is seen by officials as a key evidence connecting Prince Mohammed to the killing of the Washington Post columnist.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul to tackle Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate there, spoke in Arabic during the phone call, sources told New York Times. Though the prince was not directly named in the said conversation, American intelligence officials feel that “your boss” was a reference to the Crown Prince.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, said that recordings related to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, which Turkey has shared with Western allies, are "appalling" and have shocked a Saudi intelligence officer who heard them, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.
Erdogan told reporters during his flight while returning from a weekend visit to France that he discussed the Saudi journalist's killing with the US, French and German leaders at dinner in Paris.
Saudi Arabia has flip-flopped over the disappearance and subsequent killing of the journalist. Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman had recently condemned the murder of Khashoggi as a "heinous crime", insisting the kingdom was cooperating with Turkish authorities and said that "justice will prevail"
(With inputs from agencies)
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