ANTARCTICA (15 Jan 2008) — Japanese eco-terrorists caught poaching in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary have taken two marine patrol officers hostage. Japanese whalers assaulted marine sanctuary patrol officers Benjamin Potts, 28, from Australia, and Giles Lane, 35, from Britain, as they attempted to board the pirate whaling vessel and serve its captain with an arrest warrant for illegally killing marine mammals in the Australia-Antarctica Sanctuary some 4,000 kilometers south of Fremantle. Witnesses said the Japanese poachers attempted to throw Officer Potts overboard and later tied both men to railings of the Yushin Maru No. 2, a commercial whaling vessel equipped with a powerful bow harpoon that fires exploding grenades into the backs of whales. Captain Paul Watson aboard the Antarctica marine patrol vessel "Steve Irwin" confirmed that Japanese eco-terrorists had deliberately endangered the lives of his officers. "They assaulted them, they tied them to the rails and actually at one point those rails went under water up to their waists," Captain Watson said. "Then they came back and untied them and brought them up to the top deck and tied them for a couple of hours to the radar masts, and then they brought them inside the vessel and we haven't seen them since." "I was a little surprised. I expected the Japanese to have treated them a little more decently. "In fact, they tried to throw Benjamin overboard and he had to struggle to stop being thrown overboard because the boat was travelling at 17 knots (30 km/h) and it would have been extremely dangerous." The Japanese pirate whalers denied all of the allegations stating that they were in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary to conduct "scientific research". Japan's commercial whaling fleet can be easily recognized by huge letters on the hulls of their ships that read, "RESEARCH". | | Japanese eco-terrorists caught poaching harass marine patrol officers attempting to board the pirate whaler Yushin Maru in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. Japanese citizens who oppose Japan's annual whale hunts recently blasted so-called "scientific" whaling as a sham and demanded that their government stop subsidizing the whaling fleet. Court orders Japan to end hunt Earlier today, a federal court in Sydney ordered Japan to end this year's kill of almost 1,000 whales, ruling that the hunt is illegal because it is being conducted in Australia's exclusive economic zone. Japan said it would ignore the court decision. Meanwhile, officials representing the marine patrol officers who were taken captive said the Japanese captain and crew of the Yushin Maru No. 2 will be charged with kidnapping. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORKSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
