'Appalling' Khashoggi audio shocked Saudi intelligence – Erdoğan

Audio evidence related to the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi contains appalling details of the crime, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said, as he continues to pile pressure on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Erdoğan’s latest intervention came as the New York Times reported that a member of the Saudi hit team dispatched to Istanbul to kill Khashoggi told one of his superiors by phone to “tell your boss” the operation was accomplished, an apparent reference to Prince Mohammed, and a Turkish newspaper published x-ray images of the team’s luggage, which included defibrillators and syringes.

The audio recordings shocked a Saudi intelligence official, Erdoğan told reporters on his return to Ankara on Monday night from first world war commemorations in France, where he said the killing was discussed with his US, French and German counterparts.

“We played the recordings regarding this murder to everyone who wanted them from us. Our intelligence organisation did not hide anything. We played them to all who wanted them including the Saudis, the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Britain,” he said. “The recordings are really appalling. Indeed, when the Saudi intelligence officer listened to the recordings he was so shocked he said: ‘This one must have taken heroin, only someone who takes heroin would do this’.”

Erdoğan said Turkey was “waiting patiently” for Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, to shed more light on the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi’s death.

The respected Washington Post columnist and critic of Prince Mohammed was killed by a team of men who flew from Riyadh to ambush him during a marriage paperwork appointment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month. His body, which investigators believe was cut up and dissolved in acid at the nearby consul general’s house, has not been found.

Turkey has maintained that the hit was ordered at the highest levels of the Saudi government, steadily leaking gruesome details from the criminal investigation which undermine the Saudi version of events.

It was clear the House of Saud was involved in Khashoggi’s killing, Erdoğan reiterated in comments to the tabloid Yeni Şafak on Tuesday, but he did not think King Salman, for whom he had “limitless respect”, could be behind such a crime.

“It must be revealed who gave them [the Saudi team] the order to murder,” Erdoğan said.

After two weeks of denying it had anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance, the kingdom said he had died in a fight, before changing its story again to say the Turkish investigation’s findings indicated his killing was premeditated.

Khashoggi’s death has created the biggest diplomatic crisis for Riyadh since 9/11, reigniting a debate about arms sales to the country, its human rights record and the war in Yemen – but little concrete action has been taken by western powers so far.

The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, travelled to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on Monday for talks concerning both the Khashoggi investigation and the violence in Hodeidah, a key port city in Yemen.

Ankara’s most damning evidence has come from audio recordings from the consulate which it is believed were obtained by Turkish intelligence officers who hacked the Saudi hit team’s communications.

On Monday, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, became the first western leader to confirm the tapes’ existence, telling reporters in Paris that Canadian officials had listened to them.

The New York Times, quoting sources familiar with the recording, reported that the hit team’s leader, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb – a security officer who frequently travelled with Prince Mohammed – picked up a phone at the consulate to say “tell your boss” the operation had been successful. The paper said Turkish intelligence officers had told US officials they believed Mutreb was speaking to one of the prince’s aides, and that US intelligence officials believed “your boss” was a reference to Mohammed.

On Tuesday, the Turkish pro-government newspaper Sabah published photos of what it said were x-rays of the Saudi team’s luggage when they left Istanbul via Atatürk airport. They showed syringes, electric shock devices, large scissors, staple guns, walkie-talkies and a signal jammer. The bags were not searched because the men were travelling under diplomatic immunity.