Activists 'stole' whale meat

AOMORI — Police arrested two members of Greenpeace Japan on Friday on suspicion of stealing a box of whale meat in connection with the conservationist group's claim that crew members of a Japanese whaling ship had themselves stolen the meat.

Arrested on suspicion of theft and unlawful entry are Junichi Sato, 31, and Toru Suzuki, 41, police said. The two were transferred from Tokyo to Aomori Police Station in the afternoon.

Police also began searching the group's Tokyo office at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

The two are suspected of breaking into a branch office in Aomori of trucking firm Seino Transportation Co. between 8:40 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on April 16 and stealing a cardboard box containing whale meat.

Crew members of the whaling ship Nisshin Maru had used such boxes to ship home whale meat using Seino's door-to-door delivery service.

According to investigative sources, the two suspects admitted they removed the box from the office, but denied committing theft, saying they were collecting evidence that the crew itself had stolen the meat.

Yasuhi Tadano, a lawyer for Greenpeace, denounced the arrests.

"The arrests were unjust. The two had to resort to such means in order to get evidence of (pilfering)," Tadano told reporters.

Greenpeace Executive Director Jun Hoshikawa called the arrests "an intimidation tactic" by the government.

In May, Greenpeace Japan filed a complaint with prosecutors against 12 crew members of the Nisshin Maru, alleging they stole a large amount of whale meat after returning home from a government-sponsored whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean.

But prosecutors Friday said they will not charge the crew of the whaling ship after concluding that the whale meat was distributed as a gift by the operator of the ship.

At the time, Greenpeace said a four-month investigation found that crew members of the whaler smuggled the meat ashore in personal luggage and passed it on to traders to be sold illegally.

Greenpeace estimates the meat it took is worth as much as ¥350,000.

The group also presented the whale meat to the media and submitted it to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office as evidence.

Shinya Izumi, chairman of the National Safety Commission, told reporters Friday that intercepting something that belongs to someone else is not allowed in society.

Seino Holdings Co. said the two Greenpeace activists illegally broke into its warehouse and stole the container. The company said Friday it hadn't decided whether to demand redress from Greenpeace.

The move against Greenpeace also drew flak from critics, who said it might be intended as an attempt to show the government is ready to crack down on activists before the Group of Eight summit in early July.

The summit has come under increasing attacks by activists against globalization in recent years.

The government kills about 1,000 whales a year under a whaling program allowed under international rules, and sells the meat as food.

Greenpeace and other whaling opponents say the program is a cover for commercial hunting, which has been prohibited for major species since 1986.