Australian Police Search Sea Shepherd Vessels
Image Source: Flickr
Yesterday, the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker arrived in Tasmania. Both vessels were immediately searched by Australian police, at the request of Japanese authorities. Although the police had a search warrant, none of them would divulge and details of the warrant or reasons behind why the search was requested in the first place. In regards to the search, Captain Paul Watson stated:
“They’ve already seized log books, videos, photographs, charts, GPS recordings and copies of the computer hard drives.” … “There’s nothing I would love better than to have this whole thing blow up in an Australian court. Let’s clean all the laundry once and for all.”
Australian officials are not particular thrilled about the search, either. Green party leader, Bob Brown, criticized the search, stating “this is outrageous that Australian police are at the disposal of the Japanese whale killers”. Then, you also have Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who recently threatened the Japanese with legal action unless they agreed to start phasing out the hunts. While Rudd is not happy about the situation, he explained:
“If the Sea Shepherd has in any way violated any relevant law where Australian authorities are involved, that probably lies in the independent decision-making processes of the Australian Federal Police.”
Right now, we can only wonder why the search was conducted and what the police will do with all the confiscated items. Updates will be posted as they occur.
By Heidi Marshall
I have been with GreenFudge for about a year now, but I've had a passion for Nature my entire life. When I'm not writing articles, you can find me out hiking, gardening, working on green craft projects, or taking photos for my website. You can check out the site at http://arkisaeo.com
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Tags: Sea Shepherd, search warrant, SSCS, vessels searched by Australian police, Whale Wars, whaling
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