Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a Saudi diplomat and intelligence officer, is among the men under investigation by the Turkish authorities as part of the probe of the disappearance and suspected death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mutreb was the first secretary at the Saudi embassy in London, according to a 2007 UK government list of foreign diplomats and a Saudi source in London who knew him and described him as a colonel in Saudi intelligence.
Why this matters: Mutreb is closely connected to Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, a Saudi source told CNN.
“He was seconded to an elite protection brigade within the Royal Guard to serve as the personal security force of [the Crown Prince],” the source told CNN.
Two sources familiar with the investigation previously confirmed to CNN that he was among eight men listed by Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency who were of interest in the ongoing criminal investigation.
He is believed to be part of a group of 15 Saudis, most of whom flew to Istanbul on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, two sources familiar with the investigation told CNN last week.
Mutreb’s passport, however, wasn’t part of seven passport scans Turkish authorities gave CNN to identify Saudi suspects in the ongoing investigation.
