NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, March 28, 1995
5A
Japanese cult lair raided; chemicals found
Underground tunnel leads to hidden lab site
The Associated Press
TOKYO — In the cult's most holy building, a secret door behind a huge Hindu statue leads to a hidden chemical lab. From there, an underground passage connects to a storeroom filled with all the chemicals needed to make nerve gas.
The discoveries found yesterday are among the many details that police have revealed in raids against the secretive Aum Shinri Kyo sect, or Supreme Truth, the chief suspect in last week's nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways.
Ten people were killed and 5,000 sickened in the March 20 attack. Hundreds of people remain hospitalized.
Inside or near several of the sect's drab concrete buildings near the foot of Mount Fuji, police found rooms or underground containers that they were used to confine people who tried to flee.
A "ministry of defense" guards the group's facilities and searches for followers who attempt to escape and a "ministry of health treatment" stockpiled large amounts of drugs and syringes, reports said.
Police documents obtained by Japanese media say the group, which claims 10,000 followers in Japan, is directed by a severe government-like network of about 20 "ministries."
A "ministry of science," which
runs the chemical lab, was researching advanced weapons for a final battle against outside enemies, the Mainichi and other newspapers reported.
The functions of some of the agencies such as a "ministry of DNA" were unclear, and police have not commented on the reports.
Police said that they believe the group may have regularly given stimulants to followers and may have used them in initiation ceremonies for new members, the Mainichi said.
Former members say the sect also administered psychiatric drugs and cleansing treatments in which followers were forced to drink salt water until they vomited.
Police reportedly found 40 kinds of chemicals at the group's facilities. Japanese reports said the
chemicals included: ingredients of sarin, the nerve gas used in the Tokyo attack, chemicals that can be used for making illegal drugs and glycerine compounds that can be used to make explosives.
Police have focused on the first category but are now beginning to investigate the other two, the Mainichi said.
Nearly a week of intense searches have turned up tons of chemicals, millions of dollars worth of yen and piles of gold bars.
In yesterday's raids, police focused on a windowless building with a 15-foot statue of Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction, and a separate statue of the god's hand.
Behind the statue, police found a secret door leading to a room that several media reports described as a virtual chemical factory.
A system of long pipes, believed to be part of an elaborate air purification system, is visible along an outside wall of the three-story building. A guard booth is at its entrance.
The sect combines elements of Buddhism and Hinduism.
The police report says a "ministry of food" provided two meals a day for followers — seldom more than a bowl of instant noodles, three hard biscuits or a bowl of boiled vegetables.
It says a "ministry of construction" was studying how to build bomb shelters — reflecting the group's conviction that it would be the only one to survive a nuclear battle that would end the world, the Asahi newspaper said.
Each ministry is reportedly led by senior cult members, who are rated by their level of "deliverance from worldly concerns."
One woman, who was able to leave the group, said in an interview in Monday's Weekly Post magazine that she had failed to reach the best level, Raja Yoga, because she slept more than the permitted three hours a day.
She said trainees had to spend at least five days a month in a small room equipped with a video screen that constantly showed Aum educational videos. Only one meal a day was allowed.
"After a while, I saw many people who appeared to have mental disorders," she said.
The leader of the group, Shoko Asahara, whose whereabouts are unknown, has denied responsibility for the subway gas attack. He has accused the U.S. military of dropping poison from airplanes on the commune. A U.S. Forces Japan spokesman denied the claim yesterday.
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