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Police believe balloon tale — for now

INNER SPACE: Falcon Heene helps dad Richard prepare the now-famous Mylar balloon for flight in the days before its infamous launch — or premeditated publicity hoax, as skeptics are saying — kicked off a frantic effort to “save” the Colorado boy.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — He called the media before the police, his parents were shopping around a reality show, and even the kid said it was all “for a show,” but cops said yesterday they are buying the balloon boy’s family’s bizarre tale about their child floating away on a flying saucer — for now.

But with skeptics all over the world dismissing the crazy misadventure as a hoax, Colorado police conceded yesterday that they will open a formal investigation into whether the family made the whole thing up just to get on TV.

Investigators plan to speak with 6-year-old Falcon Heene and his space-age parents today, and have already reached out to Colorado’s child protection agency about the wild episode that sparked a massive rescue operation on Thursday.

VIDEO: BALLOON BOY’S PARENTS’ 911 CALL

For now, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said the police department was taking the family at their word about the bizarre course of events that led them to claim their son had drifted off in a homemade flying saucer — even though he was hiding above the garage the whole time.

“There has been a lot of speculation and criticism of this event,” he said. “We believe at this time it was a real event. Certainly people are free to speculate.”

While the boy’s media-hungry father, Richard Heene, 44, dismissed accusations that it was an attention-grabbing publicity stunt as “extremely pathetic,” eyebrows were immediately raised when young Falcon told a TV interviewer that “we did this for a show.”

It was also revealed that Richard Heene made calls first to the FAA and then to a local television station after the balloon got loose — before calling 911.

And then there were reports that the family — which had been featured twice on the show “Wife Swap” — had been shopping a reality program about their wacky sci-fi life.

Neighbors described the Heene children as the terrors of the neighborhood and the parents as publicity whores.

“I think the media is right on track that this is a hoax,” said neighbor Bill Misner. “After coming off of ‘Wife Swap,’ I think they are media crazy for their next fix.”

If it is determined Heene made it up, he could be charged with filing a false report and be on the hook for the sky-high costs of the rescue effort. The balloon floated for 50 miles across two counties.

Alderden said cops were reserving judgment, but added that the family’s panic as they watched the out-of-control, silver foil balloon they believed carried Falcon through the Colorado sky seemed genuine.

“When the thing touched down and the boy wasn’t found, there was a noticeable deflation of their emotional state, which our investigators did not think could be faked,” he said.

He also said, given what a “hyperactive” boy Falcon is, he had a hard time believing he would have been able to be coaxed to sit still and hide for five hours.

Falcon said he had gotten upset and hid in the crawl space above the garage after his father yelled at him for darting around underneath the experimental flying machine before they sent it up on a test flight.

A video that Falcon’s brother Bradford, 10, shot of the test flight showed his father angrily kick the ground as the 20-foot wide silver orb floated out of the family’s back yard when a tether came loose.

According to the Heenes’ story, Bradford and his 7-year-old brother, Ryo, then told them they thought Falcon had gotten inside the air ship. When they couldn’t find him anywhere, they too jumped to the conclusion he was aboard with no way to stop it, and called for help — albeit after alerting the media.

In a recording of the frantic 911 call, Falcon’s mother, Mayumi, 43, told a completely unflappable operator that her son was in “a flying saucer.”

Her mad-scientist husband then explained that the craft was “filled with helium,” and “operates on a million volts to move around!”

“We looked everywhere. My sons said he was inside. He was playing around it, and it wasn’t tethered,” he said. “It was just supposed to be in the back yard, you know.”

After doing the rounds on the morning shows yesterday, the Heenes suddenly got camera shy despite dozens of TV trucks parked outside their home.

“Thank you for all of your support. We are not taking any interviews anymore. We are tired. Thank you. The Heenes,” read a note on their door.

lukas.alpert@nypost.com