Police have recovered a massive drone that was apparently abandoned in the Brooklyn Naval Yard.
A photo obtained by The Post shows an NYPD officer holding up the unwieldy aircraft, the body of which appears to measure more than 5 feet in diameter.
Cops responded to an emailed tip alerting them to the presence of the drone, which they found on the sidewalk at Fifth Street between Market Street and Morris Avenue, sources said.
As officers were investigating, a passer-by said he worked in the building that houses the headquarters of drone’s manufacturer — which he identified as Amogy, Inc., a sustainable-energy startup working to use ammonia as a renewable fuel source, including for aerial vehicles.
Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo later confirmed the drone was the property of his company and said it had been placed on the sidewalk after a company party about a month ago, according to sources.
Woo said the drone was inoperable and had been in its location for more than a month before cops recovered it, sources said.
The NYPD dispatched an Emergency Services Unit truck to disconnect the drone’s nitrogen components to ensure it was safe for transport before bringing it to the 88th precinct for safekeeping.
An email sent by The Post to Amogy seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Rebecca Weiner, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of counterterrorism and intelligence, told reporters at an unrelated briefing that despite drone mania taking hold in New York and New Jersey over the past month, the perceived surge in sightings may be attributable to the power of suggestion.
“What we’ve seen over the past few days here in the city has actually been quite normal, frankly, in terms of the actual drone activity that we see every day,” she said, noting there are around 2,000 drone flights per week in the Big Apple.
“You have a really strong uptick in reporting but not a strong uptick in actual drone detection, which makes sense — all people are seeing on the news is drone sightings everywhere.”
She said the department had a similar conversation last week after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in which threats against corporate CEOs suddenly seemed ubiquitous — but with one key difference.
“There you actually have a real increase in threats, not just an increase in reporting,” she said.