Brits claim prior knowledge of Khashoggi abduction

Several UK papers quoted British intelligence sources Tuesday as revealing they had knowledge of Saudi plans to abduct the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi three weeks before he disappeared in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. GCHQ claims to have intercepted orders by a “member of the royal circle” to abduct the troublesome journalist and take him back to Saudi Arabia for questioning. However, the door was seemingly left open for alternative action. The intelligence sources said they had no evidence that the orders emanated directly from Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and did not know if he was aware of them. The same source confirmed that MI6 had warned its Saudi Arabian counterparts to cancel the mission, a request that was ignored. As to why MI6 did not alert the US, the source said only: “A decision was taken that we’d done what we could.” Khashoggi is claimed by the same intelligence to have been preparing proof that Saudi Arabia was using phosphorus as a chemical weapon in Yemen.