Iceland to Seek Return of Suspects in Sinkings

Officials will seek the extradition of two militant environmentalists, a Briton and an American, who are accused of sinking two of its four whaling ships, Iceland Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson said Tuesday.

Police on Monday identified the two as U.S. citizen Roy Coronado and Briton David Howard. Both men were reported to have left Iceland on Sunday--after the ships were sunk--aboard a flight bound for Luxembourg.

Icelandic media say they have discovered places where the men stayed after their arrival in mid-October, including a Salvation Army hostel.

The hostel record shows that Coronado gave an address in Morgan Hill, Calif., and his age as 20. Howard gave an address in Plymouth, England, and gave his age as 21.

Anti-Terrorism Agreements

Hermannsson said his country will invoke a recent European anti-terrorism agreement to have the suspects extradited to stand trial in the sinkings of the two vessels and a vandalism attack on a whaling station discovered Monday.

“The Council of Europe has recently strengthened its anti-terrorist efforts and agreements, and we plan to use that,” Hermannsson said.

An anti-whaling group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has branches in Los Angeles, Canada and Britain, claimed responsibility for sinking the ships and attacking the station.

In Britain, Sea Shepherd spokeswoman Sarah Hambley told a reporter by telephone from Plymouth that in any legal case, “it would be up to Iceland to convince the world they’re not whaling illegally.”

Asked where Coronado and Howard were, she replied, “I will not comment on the whereabouts of any of our field agents.”

The International Whaling Commission has called for a halt to commercial whaling. Iceland says it takes only a small number of whales for scientific research and denies its whaling is illegal under the commission’s rules.

Hermannsson, emerging from a Cabinet meeting, announced that the nation will bolster security to prevent more such attacks.

Arrival at Summit Time

Hermannsson’s statement came a month to the day after President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met in Reykjavik amid Icelandic claims that the island was the most secure location for the meeting, since terrorists could not come in unnoticed.

The prime minister said those who had carried out the weekend attacks arrived in Iceland around the time of the summit “but for some reason they were not kept under surveillance despite the fact that they were self-declared activists.”

The sinking of the Hvalur-6 and Hvalur-7, two of Iceland’s four whaling ships, took place at Aegirs Wharf in Reykjavik harbor. It was the same mooring spot during the summit for the Estonian liner Orts, which housed Gorbachev.

Ivar Hannesson, an Immigration Authority spokesman, acknowledged Tuesday that the two suspects had been interrogated by authorities Oct. 31 after taking jobs in Iceland without work permits.

He said they also were stopped late Saturday night on the road from the wrecked whaling station at Hvalfjordur, “but they were allowed to continue after an alcohol test.”

The Hvalfjordur whaling station was disabled Saturday when activists entered the factory and used sledge hammers to wreck equipment.