BEIJING, Feb. 23 (AP) -- A Tibetan who studied music at a U.S. college reportedly has been detained in Tibet while making a film, a human rights group said Friday.

Ngawang Choephel, 30, went to Tibet to make a documentary about Tibetan music and was expected to return to the United States in late 1995. A source in Tibet reported his detention, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement.

Choephel apparently was detained late last year in Shigatse, where he went to meet with musicians, the group said. It was not known whether he was still in custody, it said.

Such detentions commonly drag on for months while Chinese authorities investigate.

Choephel was traveling on an Indian identity card saying he was a Tibetan refugee. The Chinese government does not recognize the certificate.

Choephel's family fled Tibet in 1965 when he was 2. He had studied recently at Middlebury College in Vermont on a Fulbright scholarship.

China sent its army into Tibet in 1950 and formally took over the country a year later, claiming it historically was Chinese territory.