A crack new ‘X-Files’ squad of special FBI agents has been recruited by the UK Government – because the number of UFO sightings this year has been out of this world.

Leading boffins in Whitehall have admitted to being flummoxed by a spate of ‘extra-terrestrial activity’ and have turned to a top US agency to hire in “Mulder and Scully” style investigators.

The undercover unit will begin work in a high-tech London lab analysing unexplained photography and debris, before moving into the field to obtain explanations of bizarre crop circles.

There has been a huge upsurge in the interest for alien life forms since late last year when the The Ministry of Defence opened its ‘X-Files’ to the public for the first time since records began in 1967.

The unveiling has thrust it to the forefront of the public agenda and, amazingly, it has been afforded more debating hours in the House of Lords than foxhunting.

But cynics suggest opening the Pandora’s Box has only engaged the public’s over-active imagination.

Georgina Grounded of an unnamed local council said: “For a lot of people it’s just a sci-fi fix.

“There are those who think that this Fox Mulder fella cuts a bit if a dash and are just desperate to believe.

“But these are credit crunched times. We need people with down-to-Earth attitudes.”

Numbers of UFO sightings have really taken off this year, dwarfing the total of 135 reported to the Ministry of Defence for the whole of 2007.

The Sun recently reported how a flying saucer hovering over Dudley in the West Midlands was photographed by a Wakefield nanny visiting the local castle.

And pop oddball Robbie Williams is reported to be penning new tracks after staying at Trout Lake – the number one spot in the US for UFO sightings.

Malcolm Robinson, founder of research group Strange Phenomena Investigations, told The Sun last month: “Something really bizarre is happening in the skies over the UK. “

(Original headline: Government calls in the X-Files )