An American YouTuber was arrested in India after he attempted to make contact with one of the world's most isolated tribes by leaving a can of Diet Coke and a coconut In a protected area.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested on March 31 after illegally entering North Sentinel Island — a protected territory in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands — in a bid to reach the Sentinelese tribe, known for violently defending their isolation from the outside world.
"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.
According to police, Polyakov used GPS to navigate to the island, surveyed it with binoculars, then landed and stayed on the beach for about an hour, blowing a whistle in hopes of drawing attention. When no one responded, he left the Diet Coke and coconut, filmed a video, collected sand samples, and returned to his boat.
Indian authorities arrested him two days later in Port Blair, the capital of the archipelago, after he was spotted by local fishermen who reported the incident.
A case was registered for violating strict Indian laws that prohibit contact with the Sentinelese people — laws enacted to protect their safety and way of life. Polyakov has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody and is due back in court on April 17. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine.
Polyakov had tried twice before — once in October and again in January — including one journey in an inflatable kayak.
In 2018, an American missionary who attempted to reach the tribe was killed by arrows and buried on the beach. Two fishermen were similarly killed in 2006. Indian officials strictly monitor the surrounding waters and maintain a 5-kilometer exclusion zone to prevent outsiders from approaching the tribe, which has remained untouched by modern civilization for thousands of years.
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," Indian police said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
Survival International, a nonprofit advocating for Indigenous rights, called his stunt "reckless and idiotic," emphasizing the health risks such contact poses to uncontacted tribes with no immunity to common diseases.
The U.S. Embassy has been informed of the arrest, and the case has once again raised questions about how far influencers are willing to go for views — and how much damage they might cause in the process.
