The Coast Guard arrested a man from Florida on Wednesday after he attempted to cross the Atlantic in a “human-powered hamster wheel.”
Reza Baluchi was arrested on Aug. 28. He was 70 miles off of Georgia when Coast Guard officers found him on a “manifestly unsafe voyage” as Hurricane Franklin was headed toward the area, according to the agency. He told officers he was trying to travel to London in his “hydro-pod” vessel.
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Baluchi has been charged with obstruction of boarding. He signed the conditions of bond of $250,000, and his attorney has been ordered to appear, according to court filings.
The Coast Guard said the vessel “was afloat as a result of wiring and buoys,” and Baluchi was arrested after a “bizarre three-day standoff” with authorities, per the Coast Guard’s release.
Baluchi refused to get off the vessel and displayed “two knives and threatened to hurt himself” if officers boarded, according to charges filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, per NBC News.
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He also “threatened to blow himself up,” leading to Coast Guard officers contacting the Navy to locate the alleged bomb. Baluchi later revealed that the bomb was not real, per the complaint.
This is not Baluchi’s first run-in with authorities. In 2014, the Coast Guard found him 70 miles off of Florida in an inflatable bubble. He told officers he was attempting to run around the Bermuda Triangle.
