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.

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