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Osama bin Laden could have been captured a few months after 9/11 - if a dozy cop had recognised him.

The world's most wanted man was pulled over for speeding by a traffic policeman.

But despite being one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, the terror chief was sent on his way.

The embarrassing incident, thought to have taken place around 2002, was revealed by the wife of a guard travel-ling with his convoy while he was hiding out in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Maryam, the wife of trusted bin Laden sidekick Ibrahim al-Kuwaiti, told an official investigation her husband "quickly settled the matter" which took place on one of Bin Laden's occasional trips out to a local bazaar.

It is unclear from her testimony whether the traffic cop was paid off. Maryam claimed she did not even know the identity of the man her husband was charged with guarding.

Bin Laden, who masterminded the September 2001 terror attacks on the US in which nearly 3,000 people died, was eventually killed on May 1, 2011 by US special forces. Soldiers flew into the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad after US intelligence finally located his hideout.

The al-Qaeda boss was killed along with four others.

The official Pakistani investigation into the US raid, and how their intelligence failed to find out about it, accuses politicians and the military of 'gross incompetence' in letting bin Laden remain undetected.

Maryam's evidence provides an insight into Bin Laden's life on the run and the lengths he took to stay hidden.

She said the guards' children were let out of the compound, but the terror chief's children had to stay by him at all times.

Her husband and his brother were paid £60 a month with the promise of properties in Saudi Arabia in return for their devotion.