Police in India have arrested a 24-year-old US vacationer for allegedly travelling to an off-limits Indian Ocean island and making an attempt to make contact with an remoted tribe recognized for attacking intruders.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, an Arizona YouTuber, was arrested final week after making a visit by boat on 29 March to the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island within the hope of assembly individuals from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe, in accordance with police.
He took a can of Weight-reduction plan Coke and a coconut as an providing for the tribe, blew a whistle in a bid to get their consideration, recorded a video, and picked up sand samples earlier than returning by boat to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, police stated.
Polyakov was arrested after native fishermen noticed him returning to Port Blair and knowledgeable the authorities.
Police stated Polyakov’s “actions posed a critical risk to the security and well-being of the Sentinelese individuals, whose contact with outsiders is strictly prohibited by the regulation to guard their indigenous lifestyle.”
He’s being held on prices that embrace breaking a regulation defending remoted tribes and can seem in courtroom on 17 April.
Polyakov faces a sentence of as much as 5 years in jail and a high quality if convicted.
The US State Division stated in a press release that it’s “conscious of stories of the detention of a US citizen in India” however didn’t present additional remark as a consequence of privateness points.
‘Reckless and idiotic’
Guests are banned from touring inside 5 kilometres of North Sentinel Island, whose inhabitants has been remoted from the remainder of the world for 1000’s of years.
In 2018, a US missionary who landed illegally on the seashore was killed by islanders who reportedly shot him with arrows after which buried his physique on the seashore. In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had by chance landed on the shore.
Indian officers have restricted contacts to uncommon “gift-giving” encounters, with small groups of officers and scientists leaving coconuts and bananas for the islanders.
Indian ships additionally monitor the waters across the island, making an attempt to make sure outsiders don’t go close to the Sentinelese, who’ve repeatedly made it clear they need to be left alone.
Police stated Polyakov had performed detailed analysis on sea situations, tides and accessibility to the island earlier than beginning his journey.
“He deliberate meticulously over a number of days to go to the island and make a contact with the Sentinel tribe,” stated senior police Officer Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal.
An preliminary investigation revealed Polyakov had made two earlier makes an attempt, in October final 12 months and January, to go to the islands, together with in an inflatable kayak.
Survival Worldwide, a bunch that protects the rights of Indigenous peoples, stated Polyakov’s tried contact with the tribe was “reckless and idiotic.”
“This particular person’s actions not solely endangered his personal life, they put the lives of your entire Sentinelese tribe in danger,” the group’s director Caroline Pearce stated in a press release.