Two Greenpeace Activists Arrested for Mail Theft

The Greenpeace Foundation has no problem with condemning Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for saving whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, citing our tactics as unsupportable.

According to Greenpeace, the tossing of stink bombs onto the deck of a Japanese whaling vessel to prevent the killing of whales is "violent" and thus unacceptable.

Sea Shepherd has never injured anyone in our entire history, and even more relevant is that no Sea Shepherd crewmember or activist has ever been convicted of a felony. We uphold the laws, we don't break them.

But apparently, Greenpeace has no problem committing felonies in support of its campaigns.

Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki of Greenpeace Japan have been arrested for breaking into the premises of a trucking company and charged with stealing property that was in the process of being shipped.

Both men have confessed they did so.

This is essentially tampering with the mail, and it is a felony in addition to breaking and entering.

The property was whale meat that Greenpeace alleges was stolen from the Nisshin Maru by crewmembers for personal gain. Greenpeace is justifying this theft because they needed to get evidence on a crime being committed by a Nisshin Maru crewmember.

Greenpeace issued a media release accusing the crewmember and other Nisshin Marucrewmembers of theft of whale meat from the whaling company.

"This is very strange," said Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd. "Greenpeace breaks and enters and steals property in order to secure evidence of theft by crewmembers from a criminal whaling company. The question is why?"

All of the whale meat taken from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is illegally obtained. The crime is in the killing of the whales, yet Greenpeace condemns Sea Shepherd for trying to uphold international conservation law by physically intervening to protect the whales.

Last year, Greenpeace offered assistance to the Nisshin Maru when it was on fire, offering to tow the vessel. Not once during the 2006-2007 season did Greenpeace interfere with or obstruct Japanese whaling activities.

And now Greenpeace is using funds donated to protect whales in a program to investigate embezzlement inside the Japanese whaling industry. This may benefit the whaling company and it may bring a couple of crewmembers to justice, but it is a minor sidebar to the fact that all Japanese whaling activities are illegal.

"This is like the F.B.I. investigating a crime inside the mafia for the benefit of the Godfather," said Captain Watson. "Who cares that there is petty pilfering of illegal whaling meat from a cargo of illegal whale meat? The entire cargo of whale meat is illegal. The Japanese killed protected whales in a whale sanctuary in violation of a global moratorium on whaling. That is the crime, not some pilfering of thieves from thieves that has to be exposed by committing theft. I think this entire whale meat embezzlement debacle is distracting the public from the real crime - Japanese whaling!"

Greenpeace has admitted taking the meat, which it said was worth up to 350,000 yen ($3,242) during what it said was a four-month undercover investigation.
By comparison, the Japanese whaling industry claimed that Sea Shepherd's interference with its recent Antarctic whaling operations cost the whaling industry between $50 and $70 million dollars. 
Greenpeace claims in a press release that, "We've uncovered a scandal involving powerful forces in the Japanese government that benefit from whaling, and it's not surprising they are striking back."

It does not explain how the theft of whale meat from the ship by crewmembers involves "powerful forces in the Japanese government."

The whaling company says that it allows its crewmembers to take whale meat for their own use. The company doesn't seem to be interested in accusations of theft by their own employees.

And why should there be any surprise? The union that supplies crew to the whaling ships is a Yakuza (mafia type organization) controlled labor organization.

"These thugs are thieves and worse," said Captain Watson. "Of course they will steal from the ship, and of course the company will ignore it - it's organized crime, the entire affair is organized crime, and Greenpeace is acting surprised that they found some petty thieves in the lower ranks trying to make a dishonest buck."

Japanese media calling Captain Watson for his response were simply told, "We view this as a criminal matter between Greenpeace and the police. If a crime was committed, then it should be investigated and dealt with by the courts."

In 2003, when two Sea Shepherd crewmembers were arrested for cutting the nets to release fifteen dolphins from a killing cove in Taiji, Japan, Greenpeace condemned the action as "unlawful."

The two crewmembers, Allison Lance and Alex Cornelissen, were released after three weeks without charges.

It is strange that saving fifteen dolphins was condemned as unlawful, but stealing whale meat to expose a petty crook is considered justified by Greenpeace.