An anti-whaling activist has boarded a Japanese security ship to make a citizen’s arrest of its captain over the sinking of a high-tech boat, an animal rights group and an official said yesterday.
New Zealand’s Pete Bethune, captain of the futuristic Ady Gil powerboat that was smashed in two on Jan. 6, jumped aboard the Japanese ship from a jetski under the cover of darkness, the Sea Shepherd group said.
“This was an impossible mission,” spokesman Paul Watson said in a statement.
“Captain Bethune boarded a Japanese whaling fleet security ship at high speed in total darkness, breached the spikes and anti-boarding nets and is presently onboard, and the Japanese crew are still not aware that he is there,” he said.
“He is there to demand justice for the sinking of his ship,” he said.
Sea Shepherd said Bethune would try to arrest the Shonan Maru 2’s captain for “the destruction of the Ady Gil and attempted murder of the six Ady Gil crewmembers.”
He would also attempt to hand over a US$3 million bill for the destruction of the state-of-the-art trimaran, which set the round-the-world powerboat record under its former name, Earthrace.
“Sea Shepherd anticipates that the Japanese will hold Captain Bethune as prisoner onboard the Shonan Maru 2,” the group said.
In Japan, a spokesman for the fisheries agency confirmed that an activist had boarded the ship.
“He is now in Japanese custody. It is not an arrest. Under existing laws, the captain can take measures as he considers necessary,” the spokesman said.
“Nothing is really happening. The man is not being belligerent,” he said.
The agency spokesman said the man was receiving medical care after injuring a finger while boarding the ship.
The spokesman declined to comment on possible legal action against the activist and how Japan would treat the group’s compensation claim.
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