The Tasmanian police have arrested a suspect who allegedly called police to say he had planted a bomb on the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin in Hobart harbor. The suspect called in the bomb threat from his own Victoria registered cell phone from Hobart. The police traced the call and identified the owner of the cell phone.

Police showed ships manager Benjamin Baldwin a photograph of the suspect and Ben recognized him as a person he refused to allow on the ship a few hours before the threat was made. Ben reported that the man had been bragging about being in Auckland when Greenpeaces ship the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. Ben thought he was acting strange and told him that he was not welcome to board the ship.

The name of the suspect has not yet been released. 

There were only five crewmembers on the ship at the time the threat was made. Five other crewmembers were on King Island assisting with the rescue of stranded pilot whales and a few others were ashore in Hobart.