New Delhi (AP) – A 24 -year -old American youtuber who was arrested after visiting an island forbidden in the Indian Ocean in the hope of establishing contact with a recluse tribe was detained Thursday in detention.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov will then appear before a local court in Port Blair – the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India – on April 29, police announced.
Polyakov, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31, two days after setting foot in the limited territory of North Sentinel Island in order to meet people of the Conclusion of the Seninele tribe.
“It can be claimed to be an adventure trip, but the fact is that there has been a violation of Indian laws. Foreigners meeting Sentinele could endanger the survival of the tribe,” said a higher police officer, asking for anonymity because he is not authorized to talk about the case under investigation.
Polyakov is suspected of having violated Indian laws which bear a possible sentence up to five years in prison and a fine.
Visitors are prohibited from traveling at less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from North Sentinel Island, whose population is isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years. The inhabitants use spears and arches and arrows to hunt animals that roam the small island highly wooded. Linked deep towards foreigners, they attack anyone who landed on their beaches.
In 2018, an American missionary who unlawed illegally on the beach was killed by islanders from North Sentineais who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach. In 2006, the Sentinele had killed two fishermen who had accidentally landed on shore.
An official of the American consulate went to Polyakov prison earlier this week. The United States Embassy in Delhi did not immediately respond to a request confirming the visit or any other update on Polyakov.
Police said Polyakov had conducted detailed research on sea conditions, tides and accessibility to the island before starting their trip. He stayed on the beach for about an hour, whistling to attract attention but received no response from the Islanders.
The young American had tried twice to visit the island in the past, and left a box of diet coke and a coconut as offering the tribe this time after failing to contact the Sentinele. He shot a video of the island on his camera and collected sand samples before returning to his boat.
On his return, he was spotted by local fishermen, who informed the authorities and Polyakov was arrested in Port Blair, an archipelago of nearly 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) east of the Indian continent.
