According to court filings, a Florida man who was attempting to go across the Atlantic in a “human-powered hamster wheel” was detained by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Reza Baluchi was discovered by officers 70 miles off the coast of Georgia while on a “manifestly unsafe voyage” as Hurricane Franklin approached, the U.S. Coast Guard stated in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday.
The yacht “was afloat as an outcome of wiring and buoys,” according to the Coast Guard.
After a “bizarre 3-day standoff” with law enforcement, Baluchi was apprehended on August 28.
According to federal charges brought against Baluchi in the Southern District of Florida, at one point the man who would not leave the boat he was aboard flashed “two knives & threatened to hurt himself” if investigators boarded.
Additionally, according to the complaint, he “threatened to blow himself up,” at which point the local Coast Guard officers called the U.S. Navy to find the said bomb’s location. However, Baluchi eventually admitted that the bomb was a hoax.
Baluchi informed the Coast Guard team that he was trying to use his “hydro-pod” vessel to sail to London.
Authorities have previously discovered Baluchi trying to traverse the Atlantic in a human-powered vessel. He was discovered by the Coast Guard in an inflatable bubble in 2014, 70 miles off the Florida coast while attempting to circumnavigate the Bermuda Triangle.
Baluchi is accused of hindering boarding. According to court documents, Baluchi signed the terms of the $250,000 bail. According to court documents, his lawyer has been told to show up.
Requests for comment from Baluchi and the public defender who is defending him were not immediately fulfilled.