Iceland seizes Paul Watson's ship, detains crew

Icelandic authorities have seized a ship belonging to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and detained its crew, escalating tensions with the environmental group known for its anti-whaling activism.

The Icelandic coast guard and special forces boarded the ship Bandero around midnight Thursday, apprehending its 21 crew members. The vessel had reportedly ignored instructions to leave Icelandic waters and a subsequent order to stop its engines.

Paul Watson, the founder of the organization, was not on board. The Sea Shepherd Foundation confirmed the ship's seizure. The detained crew members are reportedly being held on the ship without phones, and Icelandic police are investigating the incident, with plans to potentially deport the crew and ban them from returning.

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The Bandero ignored instructions from the coast guard to leave Icelandic waters, and later an order to stop its engines.

Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, remains one of the few nations that permit commercial whaling. However, the practice is becoming increasingly controversial within Iceland itself, with declining demand for whale meat, particularly in Japan, its primary export market. Watson, a 75-year-old Canadian activist, has a history of confrontations with whalers and has previously faced legal issues, including an arrest in Greenland earlier this year.

This incident follows a separate event where the Bandero allegedly collided with a cargo ship in the Antarctic, an act the ship's owner described as a deliberate attack that endangered the crew and risked an environmental disaster.

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The ship was seized and its 21 crew members were detained on board without phones.