Background - February 16, 2009
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On May 15th 2008, Greenpeace Japan used undercover investigators
and the testimony of informers to expose that large amounts of
prime cut whale meat were being smuggled from the whaling ship
Nisshin Maru disguised as personal baggage, labeled "cardboard" or
"salted stuff" and addressed to the private homes of crewmembers.
Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki intercepted one
box out of four sent to one address, discovered it contained whale
meat valued at up to US$3,000, and took it to the Tokyo public
prosecutor.
Their public press conference drew national attention in Japan,
and a promise by the public prosecutor to "fully investigate" the
charges.
Instead, Junich Sato and Toru Suzuki were arrested for stealing
the box of whale meat, and the scandal investigation was dropped by
the Tokyo public prosecutor's office the same day; it was clear
that the two events were connected, just as it is clear that both
were politically motivated. Although Junichi and Toru had provided
full cooperation to the police, it took some five weeks to make the
arrests, and when they did, more than 40 officers raided the
Greenpeace Japan office, with the media tipped off by police
beforehand. The Greenpeace activists learned of their imminent
arrest from the TV news the same day the embezzlement case was
dropped.
Click here for more information, and to read the full dossier of
evidence that Junichi and Toru presented.