Local media say investigators want to explore inside a well in the official’s garden

Turkish investigators are preparing for a second search of the Saudi consul general’s residence and garden in Istanbul, Turkish media has reported, as the police continue their hunt for the body of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish broadcaster NTV said on Wednesday that police were mounting a second forensics visit to the diplomatic property after reports from the state-owned Anadolu news agency earlier in the day suggested Turkish investigators had previously been barred by their Saudi counterparts from searching a well in the garden.

Istanbul police believe that a 15-man team sent from Riyadh took Khashoggi’s body to the consul general’s residence from the nearby consulate building, where they allege he was tortured, beaten and his body dismembered with a bone saw.

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Riyadh denied having anything to do with the dissident writer’s disappearance for more than two weeks, before admitting on Saturday that he was choked to death in the consulate after a fight with officials who had embarked on a rogue extradition operation. Riyadh says it doesn’t know where Khashoggi’s body is as it was handed over for disposal to a “local collaborator”.

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While a joint Turkish-Saudi investigation into the writer’s death was set up earlier this month, Turkish investigators have been faced with several delays from their Saudi counterparts, who have at times refused to grant permission to search the diplomatic buildings and vehicles of interest to the criminal probe.

A forensics team was first allowed into the consulate building on 15 October, two weeks after Khashoggi was killed. Inside, police found several freshly painted surfaces and removed several bags and boxes of evidence so far.

A second search of the consulate, and the first search of the consul general’s residence and garden, was carried out two days later.

Investigators have not released any details of their findings so far, but it is understood they are using DNA samples and luminol, a chemical used for identifying traces of blood, as part of the probe.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A vehicle allegedly belonging to the Saudi consulate enters Belgrad forest national park north of Istanbul, Turkey on 1 October. Photograph: AP

A Mercedes belonging to the Saudi consulate, which was found in a carpark in the city’s Sultangazi district, was searched by police for a second day on Wednesday.

Investigators found two suitcases containing documents and a laptop the previous day after permission to search the vehicle was granted by the Saudi team, Turkish state news reported. It was not immediately clear who the items belonged to, but CCTV footage shows that Khashoggi did not take a bag or any electronics to his fateful 2 October consulate appointment.

Also on Wednesday, the first pictures emerged of a BMW with Saudi diplomatic plates entering the main gate of Belgrad forest national park, north of Istanbul, the day before Khashoggi was killed. Surveillance footage leaked to Turkish media shows the car at one point was parked next to the Mercedes abandoned in Sultangazi.

The new video supports Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s allegation that cars belonging to the consulate visited rural areas outside Istanbul in preparation for what he said was Khashoggi’s premeditated murder.