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Greenpeace members arrested for whale meat theft

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-20 17:10

TOKYO -- Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists on Friday on suspicion of stealing about 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of whale meat that the environmentalists said had been illegally siphoned by whalers from government-backed hunts.

Greenpeace members Junichi Sato, 31, and Toru Suzuki, 41, allegedly stole a container with the meat from a postal company warehouse in Aomori, northern Japan, in April, police said in a statement.

Jun Hoshikawa, executive director of Greenpeace Japan talks to reporters in front of Greenpeace's Tokyo office while police search the office in Tokyo June 20, 2008. Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists on suspicion of theft on Friday after they admitted taking a box of whale meat as evidence of what they said was embezzlement by Japanese whalers. [Agencies]

The Japanese 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 banned for major species since 1986.

Greenpeace presented the meat to authorities last month, saying it showed whalers operating on government-funded hunts were stealing whale meat for their own private use or to sell.

Greenpeace acknowledged taking the meat from the postal company, but said it did so to obtain evidence for its probe and, therefore, did not constitute theft. Greenpeace says the container belonged to a whaling ship crew member. Greenpeace estimates the meat it took is worth as much as 350,000 yen (US$3,300).

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

Apart from alleged theft, Sato and Suzuki were arrested for illegally breaking and entering, and authorities also searched Greenpeace's office in Tokyo on Friday.

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 embezzlement," Tadano told reporters.

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

Greenpeace last month asked the Tokyo Public Prosecutors to probe the alleged theft of meat by whalers, but the prosecutors office said in a statement it dropped the case Friday. It gave no further details.

The Fisheries Agency refused to comment on the allegations.

The Japanese have hunted whales for centuries, and whale meat was widely eaten in the lean years after World War II. The meat, however, has plunged in popularity in today's prosperous Japan and, while still on the menu in a few upscale Tokyo restaurants, is only eaten regularly in small coastal whaling communities.