AOMORI, Japan, June 20 (Kyodo) - Japanese police arrested the whale campaign coordinator and another member of conservation group Greenpeace Japan on Friday on suspicion of stealing whale meat, which the group presented to prosecutors as evidence in its allegations of a whale meat smuggling operation involving a government-sponsored whaling program.
After their arrest in Tokyo on suspicion of theft and unauthorized entry of private property, coordinator Junichi Sato, 31, and member Toru Suzuki, 41, admitted to taking a package from the office of a trucking company, but said they did not steal it but was ''secured as evidence,'' according to investigators.
According to police, Sato and Suzuki, in collaboration with several other Greenpeace activists, entered a delivery post of Seino Holdings Co. at its Aomori branch on April 16 and seized a package of whale meat sent by a crewmember of the research whaling ship Nisshin Maru on April 16. Greenpeace Japan said it was among the packages sent to crew members' homes in Hakodate, Hokkaido Prefecture and other locations.
Greenpeace made an announcement on May 15 that it has filed a complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, saying the Nisshin Maru crew, engaged in a government-sponsored whaling program, may have embezzled prime whale meat.
Whale campaign coordinator Sato made the announcement at a news conference in Tokyo, showing the seized meat in his hand.
But prosecutors are not going to pursue indictment, according to informed sources.
The following day, after the announcement by Greenpeace made headlines, Seino filed a report with the Aomori prefectural police, prompting the police to open an investigation of a possible theft case.
On Friday, just minutes before Greenpeace Japan was to hold a news conference to update their activities concerning the whale meat case, the Metropolitan Police Department and Aomori police raided Greenpeace's office in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Following the raid, Yasushi Tadano, a lawyer representing Greenpeace, said, ''The arrests of Sato and Suzuki have been unjust because we have been cooperating with the police investigation and no Greenpeace members are trying to conceal evidence or planning to run away.
'' On May 21, Greenpeace voluntarily presented to Tokyo prosecutors the package of whale meat it had seized.
Lawyer Tadano stood by Greenpeace's claim that taking the meat from the Seino delivery post does not constitute theft because the group is not using the meat for its own benefit.
''But we intend to comply with the decisions of the authorities,'' he added.
Greenpeace said it has been criticized a lot for seizing the package, but it also said innocent people were arrested to expose ''the whale meat scandal'' and demanded that they be released.
The move by law enforcement authorities against Greenpeace also drew flak from critics, saying it may be an attempt by the government to show readiness to crack down on activists before the Group of Eight summit in early July, which has increasingly been a target of attacks by anti-globalization activists.
While he disagrees with Greenpeace's anti-whaling stance, journalist Takao Saito said the way the police arrested the two men and the way they investigated the group as ''heavy-handed.
'' ''(Greenpeace) is functioning as a whistleblower in our society so the authorities should give them a fair hearing to what they have to say. '' Legal experts are divided as to whether the Greenpeace members' actions constitute theft.
But Toyo Atsumi, professor at Kyoto Sangyo University's law school, said, ''When even investigative authorities require a writ from a court to conduct searches and seizures, how can a private person do it (without taking such course of action)? Without a writ, no justifiable act is constituted.
'' Before his arrest, Sato said in an interview with Kyodo News, ''I humbly accept public criticism about our actions (of seizing the package), but we thought it necessary to expose the theft by crew members that has been committed over the years.
'' While commercial whaling is banned under an international pact, Japan has been conducting whaling for ''research'' purposes to investigate their habitats.
Whale meat from the research hunt is marketed for public consumption.
Greenpeace Japan was founded in 1989 as the Japanese branch of the international environmental group.
It has 6,000 supporters, according to its website. (Kyodo)
Today In Asia : Last Update : 21:20:58 20 June 2008 (GMT+7:00)
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