US tourist arrested in India for trying to make contact with an isolated tribe

Police in India have arrested a 24-year-old US tourist for allegedly travelling to an off-limits Indian Ocean island and trying to make contact with an isolated tribe known for attacking intruders.

Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, an Arizona YouTuber, was arrested last week after making a trip by boat on 29 March to the restricted territory of North Sentinel Island in the hope of meeting people from the reclusive Sentinelese tribe, according to police.

He took a can of Diet Coke and a coconut as an offering for the tribe, blew a whistle in a bid to get their attention, recorded a video, and collected sand samples before returning by boat to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, police said.

Polyakov was arrested after local fishermen spotted him returning to Port Blair and informed the authorities.

Police said Polyakov's "actions posed a serious threat to the safety and well-being of the Sentinelese people, whose contact with outsiders is strictly prohibited by the law to protect their indigenous way of life."

He is being held on charges that include breaking a law protecting isolated tribes and will appear in court on 17 April.

Polyakov faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine if convicted.

The US State Department said in a statement that it is "aware of reports of the detention of a US citizen in India" but did not provide further comment due to privacy issues.

'Reckless and idiotic'

Visitors are banned from traveling within five kilometres of North Sentinel Island, whose population has been isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years.

In 2018, a US missionary who landed illegally on the beach was killed by islanders who reportedly shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach. In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had accidentally landed on the shore.

Indian officials have limited contacts to rare "gift-giving" encounters, with small teams of officials and scientists leaving coconuts and bananas for the islanders.

Indian ships also monitor the waters around the island, trying to ensure outsiders do not go near the Sentinelese, who have repeatedly made it clear they want to be left alone.

Police said Polyakov had conducted detailed research on sea conditions, tides and accessibility to the island before starting his journey.

"He planned meticulously over several days to visit the island and make a contact with the Sentinel tribe," said senior police Officer Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal.

An initial investigation revealed Polyakov had made two previous attempts, in October last year and January, to visit the islands, including in an inflatable kayak.

Survival International, a group that protects the rights of Indigenous peoples, said Polyakov's attempted contact with the tribe was "reckless and idiotic."

"This person's actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk," the group's director Caroline Pearce said in a statement.