Japan: Whale protesters arrested over meat 'theft'

Japanese police have arrested two environmentalists on suspicion of stealing a box of whale meat that they attempted to use as evidence of embezzlement by government-backed whalers.

Police said in a statement today members from the environmental group Greenpeace Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki allegedly stole the box from a storage of a private postal company in Aomori, northern Japan, in April.

Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year under a scientific whaling programme allowed under international rules, and sells the meat as food.

Greenpeace and other opponents say the programme is just a cover for commercial whaling, which has been banned for major species since 1986.

The group presented the box of meat last month as evidence of this.