Secret raid on nearly blown
THE covert £4million operation to capture Ghislaine Maxwell was almost blown when the FBI pretended to be the New England Aerial Map Society, it has been claimed.
As agents were set to storm the British socialite’s New Hampshire home after a yearlong hunt, a local resident apparently frustrated by the noise of two planes circling overhead approached the agents asking to know who they were.
The FBI arrested Maxwell, 58, last week on sex trafficking charges in connection with her former boyfriend, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Yesterday she remained in the Merrimack County Department of Corrections jail in Boscawen, New Hampshire ahead of her transfer to New York scheduled for later this week.
For 12 months Maxwell, the daughter of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell, has been sought by the FBI.
She had allegedly been staying in Colorado, Wyoming and more recently Massachusetts before buying a £860,000 156-acre home in Bradford, New Hampshire, for cash.
Nuisance
It was there 24 FBI agents arrested her last week after storming her home, called Tuckedaway, cutting through padlocks on boundary gates.
She was dressed in jogging bottoms and a T-shirt when arrested and was said to have barely registered having handcuffs slapped on her wrists.
But the secret operation was almost scuppered when infuriated locals demanded to know why their peaceful lives had been shattered.
One local said: “The planes had been buzzing around since five in the morning. They were a real nuisance.
“As a lot of us are early risers, we immediately began calling each to find out if anyone knew what the noise was about.
“Finally one snapped and drove down to where all the vehicles were lined up.
“He demanded to know who they were, and they replied by saying they were from the New England Aerial map society.
“It was totally fictitious. The problem the FBI had was the guy who they told 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 when he went to open a door, he was harshly told it was off-limits.
“When he got back, he told his wife, and she called the police. She called the police on the FBI. It was hilarious.” Maxwell, a close friend of Prince Andrew, faces up to 35 years if convicted. She has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Maxwell is charged with grooming three unnamed girls, all under the age of 18, in London, New York and Florida, and New Mexico between 1994 and 1997.
Prosecutors have claimed she took part in the sexual abuse carried out by Epstein and encouraged girls to travel to meet the financier and engage in sex acts with him.
Maxwell is also accused of lying in 2016 depositions while being sued by alleged victim Virginia Giuffre that she had never groomed or had sex with underage girls herself.
Her arrest has placed greater pressure on the Duke of York, 60, to speak to the FBI about his friendships with Epstein and Maxwell who he often partied with.
Prosecutors in New York who have brought the case against the Briton said they have approached