Activists accused of stealing whale meat

AOMORI, Japan, June 21 (UPI) -- Two Greenpeace activists in Japan broke into a delivery company site to steal more than 51 pounds of whale meat, police allege.

Aomori prefectural police and the Metropolitan Police Department have accused the two environmental activists of breaking into the Seino Transportation Co. site in Aomori April 16 to take the whale meat, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday.

The suspects are Junichi Sato, who manages the activist group's Oceans Project, and another unidentified Greenpeace member.

The Shimbun said following the arrests, police searched multiple locations used by Greenpeace Japan.

A spokesman for the environmental organization said crew members from the mother ship of a regional whaling fleet likely stole the goods, leaving the activist group to be the target of "deplorable accusations.

"It's deplorable that we are subject to a compulsory investigation despite the fact we have been cooperative with the (police) probe," the unidentified spokesman told the Japanese newspaper.