Pakistani probe blasts incompetent intelligence service for bin Laden

Osama bin Laden lived in plain sight for almost a decade and was once even pulled over for speeding but not apprehended, thanks to the incompetence of Pakistan’s intelligence and security services, an official report into his killing said on Monday.

The report, leaked to Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera which circulated it late on Monday, offers fascinating details about life on the run for the world’s most wanted man, who, it says, wore a cowboy hat to avoid being spotted from above.

Written by a judge-led commission that the Pakistani government set up shortly after US special forces killed bin Laden in 2011, the 336-page report is based on interviews with 201 sources including members of his family and various officials.

In one testimony showing how close bin Laden came to being captured, “Maryam”, the wife of one of his most trusted aides, recounted how his car was stopped by Pakistani police in the Swat region.

“Once when they were all ... on a visit to the bazaar they were stopped for speeding by a policeman,” the report says. “But [Maryam’s] husband quickly settled the matter with the policeman and they drove on.”