ISTANBUL—Turkish police are investigating whether a black Mercedes van was used to abduct a Saudi journalist who went missing after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate here last week, as the two regional powers sparred over his disappearance and U.S. authorities expressed alarm.
Prosecutors in Turkey have launched a criminal probe into the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government who hasn’t been heard from since he walked into the consulate to collect divorce papers on Oct. 2.
Turkish police had initially concluded Mr. Khashoggi was likely killed in the consulate, an allegation the Saudi government has strongly denied. It dispatched its own team of investigators to assist the Turkish probe.
A closer analysis of video footage showing a flurry of cars, including the black Mercedes van, coming to the consulate and leaving the building around the time Mr. Khashoggi was inside is leading investigators to also examine the possibility that—alive or dead—the journalist was spirited away, two Turkish officials briefed on the probe said.
“We can’t be definitive,” one of the officials said.
Saudi officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
“I assure you that the reports that suggest that Jamal Khashoggi went missing in the Consulate in Istanbul or that the Kingdom’s authorities have detained him or killed him are absolutely false, and baseless,” Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington and a son of the Saudi monarch, said late Monday. “Our aim is to chase every lead to uncover the truth behind his disappearance.”
President Trump said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet spoken to the Saudi government about Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance but would be talking to Saudi officials “at some point.” He added, “I know nothing.”
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The Trump administration has developed close ties with the kingdom—the president chose the country for his first foreign visit in office—and it now faces a difficult task in handling a diplomatic crisis involving a close ally.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing “conflicting reports” on Mr. Khashoggi’s fate, urged Saudi Arabia in a statement Tuesday to support a thorough investigation “and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Saudi officials had given their consent to an inspection of the consulate. A ministry spokesman said it had yet to take place
It isn’t clear what leeway Turkish investigators will be given to search Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic premises, and whether they will be authorized to question consulate staff. The inspection could help clarify a sensitive point: what surveillance equipment is installed inside the building.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Saudi Arabia to disclose video footage supporting their claim that Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate alive, shortly after collecting papers on Oct. 2.
Saudi officials have said the consulate was equipped with surveillance cameras but that they weren’t linked to recording devices.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s blanket denial, Turkish investigators became convinced that Riyadh played a role in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance after piecing together the paths of more than a dozen individuals who flew to Istanbul from the kingdom aboard two separate private jets on Oct. 2.
After landing at the Atatürk airport, on the European side of the Turkish metropolis, the individuals went to the Saudi consulate, according to the two Turkish officials. The Mercedes van was parked inside the gated compound when Mr. Khashoggi walked inside, they said.
Later that same day, the individuals, again in separate groups, returned to the Atatürk airport where they boarded the planes they had came on, the officials said. When the first jet took off, shortly before 7 p.m., Mr. Khashoggi’s fiancée, who was waiting outside the consulate, had just sounded the alarm by calling an adviser to Mr. Erdogan. The second jet took off around 11 p.m., the officials said.
The planes carried tail numbers HZSK1 and HZSK2, and transported Saudi officials and intelligence officers, according to Turkish newspaper Sabah, which cited police and other unnamed sources. The paper said it had access to the passenger lists but didn’t disclose names.
Flight-tracking services checked by The Wall Street Journal show planes with those tail numbers flew back to Riyadh on Oct. 3 after making layovers, one in Dubai and the other in Egypt. The two Turkish officials confirmed that the jets carried those tail numbers.
Saudi authorities have previously forcibly returned perceived dissidents to the kingdom. In March, Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent women’s rights activist, was captured by Emirati authorities in Abu Dhabi and put on a plane back to Saudi, where she was banned from travel and later detained, according to a person familiar with the matter.
She remains in prison and is accused of having endangered national security. She is one of at least three Saudi citizens who were recently repatriated to the kingdom with the help of local authorities.
The Saudi government didn't respond to requests for comment on her forced repatriation.
In 2003, under the reign of King Fahd, a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Sultan bin Turki, was kidnapped in Geneva, drugged and flown back to Saudi Arabia. Prince Sultan, who spoke publicly about the kidnapping, had been an advocate for political reform in the kingdom.
—Margherita Stancati in Dubai, Robert Wall in London and Rebecca Ballhaus in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com
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