OSLO, (Verdens Gang Newsagency - translated from Norwegian) - With the possibility of enormous income, a Norwegian group was planning to export more than 60 tonnes of whale meat to Japan. But the first shipment of 6.1 tonnes of whale meat and blubber was discovered by Japanese customs authorities.
The Japanese authorities confirmed to VG that they have confiscated a container with more than 6 tonnes of whalemeat. The container was sent from Oslo on 6th January this year and has been in the custody of the Japanese authorities since 6th April. The container was sent through customs labelled as mackerel of which Norway annually exports more than 130,000 tonnes to Japan. The attempt was discovered because the smugglers routed the contraband via Vietnam, a country which imports next to nothing of Norwegian fish.
Head of the Norwegian small whaler association, Steinar Bastesen says,
"If this has happened it is tragic and devastating for Norwegian whaling. Such incidences destroy the possibilities for removing the silly Norwegian export ban."
The smugglers, associated with the lesund based company "World Food", are under investigation by Norwegian authorities. The event has been described as very harmful to the Norwegian fight to get international acceptance for Norwegian whaling.
New Criticism towards Norway
After years where it has become more quiet about this internationally difficult question, the smuggling will probably give the environmental and animal rights movement a reason to restart their criticism of Norway. Therefore, the smuggling will probably lead to huge interest at the Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Aberdeen at the end of June.
The Japanese call the whalemeat "red ruby" and illegal meat is sold for 2900 kroners (290 pounds, US$450) per Kilogram.
Norway has had a ban on the export of whale products since 1986 and the Japanese have banned imports since 1992. This has lead to 400 tons of whalemeat and blubber being stored in Norway since 1986, where it is worth nothing. In Japan it can, however, be sold for enormous amounts of money.
VG can reveal today how the Norwegian league was hoping to earn an enormous amount of money by selling whalemeat to eager Japanese customers. According to internal documents this confiscated shipment was the first of such deliveries to Japan.
Advanced Operation
The comperhensive documentation and information, VG has, reveals an advanced operation using false freight papers, other documents, bribes and Norwegian men overlooking it all.
The transport was organised through Vortex Shipping & Trading from Toensberg (south of Oslo). The company was registered in Broennoeysund (the official Norwegian company register) just last week, and they hired a Norwegian shipbroker living in Hamburg - Lars Andersen - to get the valuable shipment to its final destination using a double set of documentation.
"I was contacted by Vortex to organise the operation when the shipment was stopped in Vietnam. I can not confirm that it is whale meat and blubber that has been confiscated in Japan, but I admit that we used false declarations on false premises", says Lars Andersen to VG.
VG has the information that the Norwegian exporters were promised a prize of 2000 kroners (200 pounds) per kilogram. Had they been able to pull off the operation, they would have earned between 120 and 150 million kroners (12 to 15 million pounds).
"We are sure that the whale products are from Norway. We are now investigating this case and are looking very seriously at this", says a representative of the Japanese customs authorities to VG.
Norwegian authorities have, for a long time, heard rumours that Norwegian whale meat was on its way to Japan. The Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo was asked three weeks ago for an explanation by Japanese authorities.
Yesterday, the Japanese Department for Agriculture stated,
"We were informed that there was a case under investigation".
In Japan the higher authorities are not informed until the investigation has ended, and therefore they did not want to give out more information at the moment.
"It is obvious that they have a case", says Norway's representative in Japan, Ambassador John Bjoernebye.
He informed the Foreign Department and Norway's Whaling Commissioner Kaare Bryn about the incident yesterday. After that the Fisheries Department was informed.
"We have a very clear law on this. If your information is correct, we will act", says the Foreign Ministries spokesperson Ingvar Havnen.
Chairman of the Board of Vortex Shipping & Trading, Terje Torgersen who is the agent for the shipment, says he is surprised the shipment was stopped.
Not Informed
"We thought that the shipment containrd ten tons of mackerel. When the Japanese authorities contacted us and stated that the shipment was stopped, we did not understand a thing", says Torgersen. He claims that he did not know that there was whale meat in the shipment.
The Norwegian firms involved in this case, have since the beginning of the year tried to find buyers in Japan. The potential buyers were told that the Norwegians could deliver as much as 200 tons of whale meat and blubber to the Japanese market. Among those who were contacted were big and serious operation Japanese importers that have good contact with Norwegian authorities. It was these importers who informed the Norwegian authorities about the possible shipments. But until now the Norwegian authorities believed the rumours were some sort of provocation that was aimed at harming the Norwegian whaling.
Went Under Cover
This old post-box, in a house in Aalesund, is the address of the firm that exported whale meat labelled mackerel to Japan. The firm, World Food, is not registered, it consists only of a typed note on a building full of flats. The firm is run by Tor Sindre Refsnes who, yesterday, went under cover to avoid VG. VG has documents that show Refsnes communication with the agent for the freight. They reveal that the presumably normal 'mackerel export' is described as a 'confidential type of business'. When the Japanese customs stopped the whalemeat Refsnes was, acting as a representative of the freight firm, sent to Japan to try to release the shipment.
Common Office
World Food has an office together with Norwegian Cod, that is run by Willy Nilsen and another member of the family. Willy Nilsen is the man that beat up Steinar Bastesen in Aalesund, in a fight apparently about smuggling whale meat. During a court appearance he claimed that he took part in an attempt to smuggle 2961 kilograms of whale meat that was seized at Fornebu airport, Oslo. In court Nilsen admitted that he was a whale smuggler and on several occasions stated that the plan was to smuggle several tons of whale meat and blubber. Now, however, he says something else!
"I know nothing about this. I have no contact with Refsnes anymore, and Norwegian Cod is about to be closed down", says Willy Nilsen. He, however, presented himself as a representative of World Food to the firm that camouflaged the whale meat as mackerel from Midsundfisk.
Tor Sindre Refsnes travelled together with a Vietnamese to Midsundfisk to buy mackerel. They agreed to buy 10 tons of mackerel for a named customer in Vietnan. The fish were later picked up by a trailer with a cash payment of 60,000 kroners by World Food. World Food must have had other plans than to earn money on that transaction as they bought the fish at a very high price. A sale from which World Food could make no profit. The same mackerel showed up on the dock in Japan some time later. Apparently, as camouflage for the illegally exported whale meat.
"This is totally unknown to us, and it sounds very regrettable. We sold an amount of mackerel to Vietnam, no-one ever talked about Japan or whale", says Odd Arild Beinset at Midsundfisk.
Buying the mackerel at Midsundfisk solved a problem for World Food; they got an approved export firm through whom they could export their whale meat.
The mackerel was cleared through customs by Midsundfisk, which has an export licence for fish products. Neither World Food nor Norwegian Cod have a licence necessary to get the needed customs clearance. The mackerel from Midsundfisk left Norway in a container wih aparently everything in order; cleared by an approved export firm with an authentic certificate.
Route of Transport