Oregon’s senior U.S. senator says his briefing by a top federal law enforcement official has led him to believe the growing number of university students from Saudi Arabia who’ve vanished while facing criminal charges in the U.S. may only be the tip of the iceberg.

“My sense is that there’s a lot more here than people realize,” Sen. Ron Wyden told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday.

He added: “I’m not going to let the Saudis operate as some kind of medieval regime that can flout modern diplomatic norms.”

Wyden, a Democrat who sits on the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, began asking senior Trump administration officials about the Saudi government’s suspected role in the students’ disappearance after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive late last year.

The newsroom has since found cases in at least eight different states where students have fled the U.S. after being charged with serious crimes, including rape and manslaughter.

Last week Wyden met for a half-hour in his office with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.

McAleenan informed the senator that his agency and other departments within the Trump administration are now investigating how the Saudi students fled the U.S., even without passports in some cases.

Wyden declined to provide specific details about what he learned at the meeting, citing the early stages of the probe.

“I can tell you that my sense was he (McAleenan) made it clear he was going to take it seriously,” Wyden said.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. The State Department, Justice Department and FBI have not responded.

In Oregon, the vanished Saudi suspects include two accused rapists, a pair of suspected hit-and-run drivers and one man accused of having child pornography on his computer.

All five of the Oregon cases involved young men studying at a public college or university with assistance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the time of their arrest.

In at least four of those cases, the Saudi government paid the defendant’s bail and legal fees. Three surrendered their passports. Federal law enforcement officials confirmed at least two returned to Saudi Arabia.

The revelations have added mounting scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s conduct abroad after the kingdom’s role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey last fall.

Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, was dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, according to Turkish officials. The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.

Saudi officials have insisted the crown prince had no knowledge or role in the Oct. 2 killing, though prosecutors in the country have now charged 11 of its citizens in Khashoggi’s death.

The kingdom has also denied playing any role in helping Saudi citizens escape prosecution in the U.S.

“The notion that the Saudi government actively helps citizens evade justice after they have been implicated in legal wrongdoing in the U.S. is not true,” the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., told CNN in a statement last week.

Wyden expressed skepticism over the Saudi government’s most recent claims.

“The striking part about that statement is how similar it is to the denials that they made early on about the murder of Mr. Khashoggi,” he said.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Read other stories from this series:

He was accused of killing a Portland teen. Feds believe the Saudis helped him escape

Gone: More cases emerge of Saudi students vanishing while facing Oregon charges

Saudi students who vanish before trial span states, decades

Oregon’s Merkley and Wyden seek to punish Saudi Arabia over students who vanished before trial

Oregon’s Wyden prods FBI director for answers about Saudi role in student disappearances

Not just Oregon: Saudi students in at least 8 states, Canada vanish while facing criminal charges

Feds launch investigation into disappearance of Saudi students facing U.S. charges