Japan Coast Guard arrests antiwhaling activist

[Craftsman]

TOKYO —
The Japan Coast Guard arrested a member of the antiwhaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Friday for allegedly trespassing last month on a ship of Japan’s whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean.

Pete Bethune, the New Zealand captain of the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil who had been detained on the whaling fleet security vessel, the Shonan Maru No. 2, since boarding it Feb 15, was arrested onboard after it docked at port in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward at around 10:45 a.m.

He was then transferred to a Japan Coast Guard vessel which took him to the quay adjacent to the Tokyo Coast Guard Office in Koto Ward, to which he was taken by car and walked into the building under heavy guard by some 100 police and coast guard officers. Some officers held blue plastic sheets around the 44-year-old to hide him as he walked.

It will be the first instance of the Japan Coast Guard building a case involving trespass on a ship in international waters, according to the agency.



http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/japan-coast-guard-set-to-arrest-antiwhaling-activist-upon-arrival-in-tokyo#show_all_comments