By Melissa Davies
Japanese authorities have swooped on the ship carrying Pete Bethune as it arrived in Tokyo just a few hours ago.
The coastguard say they have arrested the Kiwi anti-whaling protestor, and he has been whisked away under heavy guard while protestors yelled abuse at him from the wharf.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs say they are now trying to get someone to him as soon as possible.
Minutes after arriving in port, Mr Bethune was surrounded. Inside, a stream of police filed in to arrest him.
Outside, protestors yelled, "Japanese people are waiting for you to cut up your body".
The authorities were keen to keep their mission under wraps as Mr Bethune was whisked out under heavy guard to a tinted van, then paraded before Japanese protestors.
Just a few hundred metres up the road, Mr Bethune was led into another building. The Japanese coastguard has not released details on what will happen now, but Mr Bethune is expected to be arrested on suspicion of trespass.
If convicted, he could face imprisonment of up to three years.
Sea Shepherd's Captain Paul Watson says he has had enough of the Japanese accusing them of being terrorists, and welcomes court action.
"If that's what they think we are, then lets have a trial and prove it once and for all. We've never been charged or convicted with any such thing ever before. We've never been sued. We're opposing illegal whaling activities."
It was another collision with a Japanese whaling ship which escalated their already tense relationship and sank the Ady Gil. After that, Mr Bethune boarded the Shonan Maru 2 last month. He climbed on board intent on placing the captain under arrest.
But instead the Japanese whalers have had Mr Bethune in their custody for the past two weeks.
It's not the first time Mr Bethune has faced trouble at sea. When on a round the world voyage with the biodiesel catamaran in 2007, he was fired on by the Columbian navy. And then off the coast of Guatemala, a collision between Earthrace and a fishing boat killed a local, and Mr Bethune was detained in a military compound for nine days charged with negligence, but acquitted.
The office of Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully say they've asked the Japanese authorities to allow a New Zealand consulate representative to meet with Mr Bethune, but they say it's still anybody's guess as to if or when that will happen.
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