Daily Mirror

Home Office wants Andrew to talk to FBI

‘Map society’ lie to local almost blows cover of £4m op to nab suspect

- BY CHRISTOPHE­R BUCKTIN US Editor chris.bucktin@mirror.co.uk @DailyMirro­r

FBI agents almost blew their covert £4million operation to capture Ghislaine Maxwell when a lie to locals near her home backfired.

Armed agents were all set to storm the British socialite’s New Hampshire hideout after a year-long hunt – when a man annoyed by the sound of planes circling overhead went to complain.

One local said: “The planes had been buzzing around since 5am. They were a nuisance. We began calling each other to find out what the noise was about. Finally one snapped and drove down to where the vehicles were lined up.

“He demanded to know who they were and they replied they were from the

PRESSURE Prince Andrew

New England Aerial map society – it was totally fictitious. The problem the FBI had was that the guy is an expert in maps and geology. It’s what he does for a living.

“He saw straight through it and asked to see inside their van but was harshly told it was off-limits. He told his wife, and she called the police on the FBI. It was hilarious.”

The FBI arrested Maxwell, 58, last week on sex traffickin­g charges in connection with former boyfriend, paedophile

Jeffrey Epstein. Yesterday, she remained in the Merrimack County Department of Correction­s in Boscawen, New Hampshire, ahead of her transfer

MINISTERS want Prince Andrew to speak directly to the FBI over his links to Ghislaine Maxwell to avoid a diplomatic row with the US.

Home Secretary Priti Patel fears if he does not comply voluntaril­y, to New York later this week. Maxwell had hidden in Colorado, Wyoming and then Massachuse­tts before buying a £860,000 156-acre home – called Tuckedaway – in Bradford, New Hampshire, for cash.

Last Thursday it was stormed by 24 armed FBI agents who cut through padlocks on gates and broke down her door.

Stunned Maxwell was dressed in jogging bottoms and a T-shirt when handcuffed. A close friend of Prince Andrew, she is charged with grooming three girls under 18, but has denied any wrongdoing. She faces up to 35 years if convicted.

Prosecutor­s claim she took part in the

NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT ON FBI OP they will be forced to intervene.

The US last month filed a Mutual Legal Assistance request to the Government, hoping to force Andrew to give a statement or submit to an interview. No 156-acre home where Maxwell was arrested. sexual abuse carried out by Epstein and encouraged girls to meet the financier and engage in sex acts with him.

She is also accused of lying in 2016 deposition­s while being sued by victim Virginia Giuffre that she had never groomed or had sex with underage girls.

Her arrest has increased pressure on the Prince, 60, to speak to the FBI.

Giuffre accused Andrew of sleeping with her three times in 2001 while she was Epstein’s “teenage sex slave”. The Prince vehemently denies her claims.

Over the weekend, pictures emerged of Maxwell and actor Kevin Spacey sitting on thrones at Buckingham Palace in 2002. Epstein committed suicide aged 66 last August as he awaited trial for underage sex traffickin­g. decision had been made yet over the American request.

If the applicatio­n does have to be dealt with by the Home Office and is successful, the Duke would be handed over to give evidence.

Mirrorman Christophe­r at mansion

The man’s wife called the police on the FBI.. it was hilarious

He would either be asked to voluntaril­y attend an interview and give a signed statement, although not under oath, or face magistrate­s to provide oral or written evidence under oath.

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SHOCK ARREST Maxwell was left stunned by FBI’s op STORMED ON SCENE
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