Holiday snaps of 'idiot' backpacker who went to Snake Island
‘Idiot’ on tour: Holiday snaps of British backpacker who went to war-torn Ukraine and was airlifted out of Kabul during Taliban invasion
- EXCLUSIVE: Miles Routledge, 23, developed a reputation as a ‘danger tourist’
- The Brit has travelled to Ukraine, Kazakhstan and even Brazil’s Snake Island
- He says he intends to return to Afghanistan to ‘set up a goldmine’
It’s August 15 2021, and Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul is in a state of violent social and political upheaval.
There is panic and pandemonium on the streets as thousands of Afghan men, women and children abandon their homes and businesses – leaving all their hard-fought possessions behind in a frantic dash for the airport and the elusive prospect of safety.
From the hills and countryside overlooking the city, a horde of shadowy gun-toting Taliban insurgents steadily trickle into Kabul and begin establishing checkpoints with armoured vehicles.
Civilians are stopped and told to return to their homes, those that refuse are beaten, some trying to escape the country completely are lined up and shot in the street.
Elsewhere, civilian targets are hit with bombs killing people indiscriminately.
Against this backdrop of immense human tragedy, a 21-year-old Loughborough University student is also having a day to remember.
Miles Routledge travelled to Afghanistan in 2021 on a tourist visa for ‘fun’
Whilst there he posed with an assault rifle he claimed he had been given by the SAS
Miles shared pictures of himself hiding from the Taliban on his social media channels during the trip
Miles Routledge – who had travelled to the war torn country against all Foreign Office guidance for ‘fun’ a few days earlier- has found his way to a NATO compound.
Whilst there, he claims he is invited to hold an assault rifle by ‘tipsy British SAS soldiers’ and shares a picture to social media.
A few days later, Miles is airlifted out of the country in a military jet and taken to Dubai – others are not so lucky.
Public reaction to Miles’ stunt was less than warm however.
When news broke that a British student had essentially gone for a jolly through a warzone, Miles was labelled an ‘idiot’ on social media and his conduct scrutinised and critiqued in the press.
However, the Afghanistan saga was just the beginning of a ‘career’ for Miles – one that’s been described at best as foolhardy and at most brazenly inappropriate.
Since his Kabul compound days, the the self-described ‘British supremacist’, now 23, has travelled to a host of dangerous places – ostensibly for ‘war journalism and charity.’
Shortly after returning back from Afghanistan, Miles sets his sights on Kazakhstan which was undergoing a period of civil unrest due to energy price hikes.
Miles travelled around Kabul in the days before the Taliban took charge of the country
He claims to have been the last person to ever obtain a tourist visa for Afghanistan
He was eventually airlifted out of the country after the Taliban took control
With Russian militia patrolling the streets on ‘shoot to kill’ orders, Miles shares pictures to his followers of him smiling in the snow.
Shortly afterwards in February 2022 with tensions in Eastern Europe border at breaking point, Miles travels to Ukraine just as Putin’s troops invade.
Sharing pictures and videos from a shell shocked Kiev, Miles poses in military uniform and shares videos from bomb shelters.
He claims to distribute charity to the vulnerable during his efforts and alleges that Ukrainian soldiers confused him for a Russian spy.
As with his ill-fated Afghanistan trips, Miles is accused of exploiting human tragedy for attention.
Following the Ukraine expedition, Miles plots a number of smaller schemes- from sailing to the Isle of White in a dinghy (and failing) to returning to Afghanistan to shoot guns with the Taliban.
Miles then travelled to Ukraine just as Russia invaded
Since his Afghanistan trip Miles has travelled to Kazakhstan and tried to cross the English Channel in a dinghy
He was eventually forced to turn back during his crossing
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Miles is seen firing a gun indiscriminately into the sand flanked by grinning members of the Taliban – or as Miles calls them: ‘Good guys.’
Grinning as the recoil hits him in the shoulder, Miles says: ‘I like this’, before firing off another round into the sky.
Last month, he claimed to have travelled to ‘Snake Island’ – an isolated and forbidden island off the coast of Brazil home to thousands of deadly snakes.
Pictures shared on social media show him apparently on the island in a suit of armour, however the snakes – of which there are reportedly 430,000- are not shown.
This Miles says, may have been a step too far.
Speaking to the Mail he explained how he had terrifyingly lost control.
He said: ‘It’s the most dangerous island in the world after the UK.
‘The snakes there can liquify your insides and their bite is essentially a 100% mortality rate.
‘I walked up the hill in my armour and then was told we had to leave. It would take too long to take my armour so I had to run down without it.
‘I was only dressed in jeans and a t shirt and in foliage up to my neck – I wasn’t in control of the situation at all.’
For his latest trip Miles visited Snake Island off the coast of Brazil – a forbidden rock crawling with venomous snakes
To protect himself Miles wore a full suit of armour which he claims was effective
The danger tourist says it was the only time on his trips he has felt like he lost control
His adventures have cultivated him a large social media following and he was even interviewed by disgraced influencer Andrew Tate – prior to his arrest on money laundering and people smuggling charges.
Keen to cash in on the notoriety of his first trip, Miles released a book in which he makes a series of questionable claims about the events that led up to him ‘goofing off’ with the SAS units on the night of August 15 2021.
He writes: ‘The soldiers were all tipsy and enjoying themselves and started telling me about what they’d experienced. {..}
‘One of them handed me his black plate carrier vest: ‘Here put this on.’
‘I put on the body armour, which was weighed down by the magazines stored in the front pockets in addition to the plates.
‘They also handed me a gun, after profuse warnings to keep my finger off the trigger since they didn’t unload it. I handed one of them my phone and grinned as he snapped a picture to commemorate the occasion.’
When approached by the MailOnline for clarity on the alleged incident, the Ministry of Defence refused to confirm its veracity.
A spokesman said: ‘It has been the policy of successive governments to neither confirm nor deny reports of special forces activity.’
The book titled ‘Lord Miles in Afghanistan’ contains many more claims about the student’s time in Kabul including that he had attempted to hide the fact he was western by using a Burkha as a ‘disguise’.
It also contains statements such as the ‘Polish language is nonsense’ and that Kabul – where gruesome terror attacks are common- is safer than London.
Miles claims his trips are exclusively funded by donations from generous donors
Miles- who has said he is estranged from his family- told the Mail that adventuring was now his full time job which he did with the help of donors who ‘liked his work.’
He explained: ‘Most trips like Afghanistan and Ukraine I can do quite cheaply, so between £1000 to £2000 but some bigger ones like Brazil can cost more in the region of £1000.
‘I get the money by fundraising and generous donors who like what I do.
‘My next trip is a return journey to Afghanistan, I have a few meetings with the Taliban, my aim is to set up a goldmine.’
After returning to Afghanistan many times, this trip would be Miles fourth visit under Taliban occupation – a prospect that doesn’t bother him.
When pushed as to why he would continue to associate himself with a group that according to Amnesty international continues to commit ‘violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes’ Miles explains there are ‘worse things out there.’
He said: ‘In the last 20 years they’ve went from banning TV to being on TikTok so they are making progress.
‘When you look at the different competing groups there, the only real alternative is ISIS so I think it’s good to guide the Afghan people and hope they make progress over time.’
No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban’s recognised the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the Taliban call their administration since their 2021 takeover.
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