French police arrested a former member of the Saudi royal guard who was suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi was said to have been taken into custody at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport when he was about to take a plane to Saudi capital Riyadh.
Otaibi, 33, has been named as one of the commando group in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was killed on 2 October 2018. He was on the Interpol red list after an arrest warrant was issued by Turkey. According to French radio RTL, he was travelling under his real name.
He is expected to appear before a judge in the next few hours, where he will be presented with the choice of being flown to Turkey or contesting the arrest warrant and being placed in police custody awaiting extradition.
Otaibi was among 17 people sanctioned by the US for their suspected role in Kashoggi's murder.
The arrest came days after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the United Arab Emirates and met Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was accused of ordering the murder of Khashoggi, a former columnist for Middle East Eye and the Washington Post and a fierce critic of the Saudi regime.
A United Nations investigation and US intelligence agencies concluded that the operation was almost certainly signed off by the crown prince. Riyadh denies Prince Mohammed had any knowledge of the plot or its botched cover-up.