Suspected spy balloon discovered off coast of Alaska by fishermen to be handed to FBI
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Fishermen off the coast of Alaska have found a suspected spy balloon, according to reports.
The crew will hand over the object to FBI officials for analysis at a lab in Quantico, Virginia when they dock at the weekend.
In the meantime, the fishermen have sent photographs of the “pretty big balloon” to officials to be examined.
Whilst the origin of the balloon is currently unclear, federal law enforcement officials allegedly saw enough evidence to state that it could be foreign-owned, CNN reports.
Fishermen off the coast of Alaska have found a suspected spy balloon (pictured is shot down Chinese balloon from last year)
Getty/Reuters
The exact location of where the object was discovered, nor the circumstances of its appearance, has not been provided.
The officials did stress that the balloon was not shot down by the US military.
The appearance of the balloon comes just over a year after a US fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina dramatically shot down what it said was a Chinese spy balloon.
The Chinese foreign ministry claimed that the balloon was meant to collect weather data and had "deviated far from its planned course" due to high winds.
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The US military ultimately shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4 and recovered the wreckage.
Beijing's Foreign Ministry said it was a “clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice”.
The spy balloon became a political headache for President Biden, who faced criticism from Republicans over his decision to allow it to transit over the US for nearly a week before ordering it shot down.
The balloon's presence put the US military on high alert for other objects in the airspace. However, the Pentagon eventually concluded the balloon did not transmit information back to China.
Chinese spy balloon flies above Charlotte, North Carolina last year before being shut down
GettyFighter jets shot down several unidentified objects over the US and Canada over the following weeks.
The military couldn't find any debris from those objects and the search was called off due to dangerous weather conditions.
Last week, the Defence Department revealed it had intercepted a high-altitude balloon over Utah.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command said in a statement that the object was “likely a hobby balloon” that posed no national security threat.