A British Youtuber and self-styled “danger tourist” is among three British men being held by the Taliban’s feared counter-intelligence unit in Kabul, it has emerged.
Miles Routledge, a 21-year-old from Birmingham who goes by ‘Lord Miles’, has over 140,000 followers on Twitter, where he brands himself as a person who will “go to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun.”
Two other Britons, charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 53, and a second unnamed man who manages a hotel in Kabul, are believed to have been held by Taliban secret police since January following a separate incident.
Mr Routledge was arrested on March 2, along with two Polish nationals named as Adrian Wojcik, 22, and Roman Bilski, 24, and is being held for further questioning, a senior European diplomatic source told The Telegraph.
A Taliban security officer confirmed the arrest of multiple foreigners last week to the Telegraph.
The official added that the group were found partaking in “suspicious activities” and were being held with the Taliban’s counter intelligence department in Kabul.
It is not the first time that Mr Routledge has visited Afghanistan. Last August, the blogger received widespread criticism for visiting Kabul during the Taliban’s ongoing takeover of Afghanistan.
He acquired a spot on a British Army evacuation flight to Dubai while thousands of Afghans who had worked alongside British troops in the country were left behind where they face ongoing targeting by the Taliban.
it is unclear why Mr Routledge, who studied physics at Loughborough university, again travelled to Afghanistan but it is believed he intended to shoot footage for his social media accounts.
Last August, Mr Routledge posted a video of him meeting with an alleged Taliban gunrunner in the city of Jalalabad after boasting of entering Afghanistan on a forged document. The video has over one million views on YouTube.
In the same footage, Mr Routledge is seen firing several automatic weapons with a Taliban fighter and a member of a local mafia, which he describes as “a lot of fun”.