Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LONDON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Defense said in a policy memo all reports of UFO sightings should be destroyed after being held for 30 days. The newly released document shows the ministry will only keep a report about unidentified flying objects for several weeks, before throwing them out and avoiding the possibility of releasing the reports via the Freedom of Information Act, The Sun reported Sunday. Advertisement The plan detailed in the memo dated Nov. 11, 2009, also details the reason for the shutdown of an official UFO investigation unit and hot line last December. The dedicated UFO hot line-answer phone service and e-mail address serve no defense purpose, and merely encourage the generation of correspondence of no defense value, the memo reads. "Accordingly these facilities should be withdrawn as soon as possible." The Sun said in 2009 alone, the Ministry of Defense recorded a total of 634 UFO sightings. During the last decade, the annual average number of such reports is nearly 150.
