The alien debate started on July 11 when locals started complaining of attacks (Representational Image)
Peru's National Prosecutor's Office has accused illegal gold mining gangs of posing as 7-ft aliens to terrorise local residents. According to a report by the New York Post, the locals in Alto Nanay, a hamlet of about 3,000 people in the northern Amazon Basin, claimed to see "armoured" and "floating" 7-foot aliens wearing dark-coloured hoods flying around since mid-July and were reported to be impervious to bullets.
The locals even compared the attackers to 'green goblins' and many speculated it was the "face peelers". The media outlet reported that the gangs are hoping to instil fear in locals to keep them inside their homes and away from their illegal gold mines.
It was also speculated that the gangs are using jetpacks to reach more unattainable spots in the dense jungles near the Nanay River to mine for more gold.
“They would be using state-of-the-art technology, such as thrusters that allow people to fly,” Carlos Castro Quintanilla, the Peruvian government's prosecutor investigating the case, told Radio Programas del Peru.
Prosecutors said that the jetpacks were first used by these illegal mining cartels to explore prospects for gold deeper in the forest surrounding the Nanay River in Peru.
According to New York Post, Alto Nanay is rich in gold, and metal is deposited in the riverbeds.
The alien debate started on July 11 when locals started complaining of attacks by a 7-foot-tall creature that was clothed in dark-coloured hoods.
Another eye witness who is a school teacher claimed that the strange alien-like creature was flying from the ground.
A 15-year-old reportedly was cut on the neck in one of the attacks and required treatment at a hospital.
The Ikitu community has asked the military to intervene.