Saudi Crown Prince Wanted To Lure Khashoggi Back To Riyadh To Detain Journalist - Reports

Saudi Crown Prince Wanted to Lure Khashoggi Back to Riyadh to Detain Journalist - Reports

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was planning to lure missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi back to his home country from Washington, where he has been living in self-imposed exile, and then detain him, media reported on Thursday, citing US intelligence intercepts.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th October, 2018) Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was planning to lure missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi back to his home country from Washington, where he has been living in self-imposed exile, and then detain him, media reported on Thursday, citing US intelligence intercepts.

The Washington Post newspaper, where Khashoggi worked as a columnist, said intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the operation proved Saudi Arabia's involvement in the journalist's disappearance in Turkey last week.

The newspaper reported citing Khashoggi's friends that over the past four months, senior Saudi officials contacted the columnist to offer him protection, and a high-level job if he returned to Saudi Arabia.

The White House said in a press release on Wednesday that National Security Adviser John Bolton and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner spoke by phone with the Saudi crown prince about the disappearance of Khashoggi, seeking more details as well as transparency in the investigation process.

According to the journalist's fiancee, Khashoggi was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents needed for his upcoming marriage. The journalist's fiancee stayed outside waiting for Khashoggi for five hours before being told by one of the Consulate General's employees that her fiance had already left. Media reports have said that Turkish investigators believe the journalist was murdered inside the consulate, but Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations.