An anti-whaling activist has been arrested in Greenland on an international warrant issued by Japan.

Paul Watson will be brought before a district judge with a request to detain him pending a decision on his possible extradition to Japan, the force added.

The 73-year-old was detained when his ship docked in Nuuk, the autonomous Danish territory’s capital, Greenland police said.

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation said more than a dozen police boarded the vessel when it stopped to refuel and led Watson away in handcuffs.

The foundation said in a statement: “The arrest is believed to be related to a former Red Notice issued for Captain Watson’s previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region.”

“We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request,” added Locky MacLean, a foundation director.

The foundation said Mr Watson’s ship, the M/Y John Paul DeJoria, along with 25 volunteer crew members, was due to sail through the Northwest Passage along northern Canada to the North Pacific to confront a newly built Japanese factory whaling ship.

It described the whaling ship as “a murderous enemy devoid of compassion and empathy hell bent on destroying the most intelligent self-aware sentient beings in the sea”.

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Leading member of Greenpeace

Mr Watson formerly headed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels drew support from A-list celebrities and featured in the reality TV series Whale Wars.

But the society’s direct action tactics brought the Canadian-American citizen into confrontation with the authorities.

He was detained in Germany in 2012 on a Costa Rican extradition warrant, but skipped bail after learning he was also being sought for extradition by Japan.

Tokyo has accused him of endangering whalers’ lives during operations in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Mr Watson has since lived in several countries, including France and the United States.

He left Sea Shepherd in 2022 to establish his own organisation.

Mr Watson was also a leading member of Greenpeace, but left in 1977 following disagreements over his aggressive tactics.

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