Japan’s subway sarin attack doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo still a threat, security official warns
- Members of the original cult carried out a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 14 people and injuring 5,800 other commuters
- Now three splinter groups are actively recruiting new members and building up millions of dollars worth of funds, a security official has warned
Some 25 years after the Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin nerve gas on subway trains in Tokyo, the head of the Japanese agency charged with monitoring its activities has warned that loyal followers of founder Shoko Asahara remain a threat.
Ayuko Watanabe, director of the Public Security Intelligence Agency unit devoted to tracking the cult’s members and periodically searching its facilities, said on Friday that three splinter groups have emerged from the original cult are actively recruiting new members, most of whom are young and unaware of Aum’s history. These groups are simultaneously building up millions of dollars worth of cash reserves, she said.
“It has been a quarter of a century since the terrorist attacks on Tokyo, but Aum Shinrikyo is not history yet,” Watanabe warned in a press conference on Friday. “It still exists and it remains a persistent problem.”
Those additional counts included an earlier sarin attack that killed eight people and the abduction and murder of a lawyer who had been representing parents attempting to get their children out of the cult. As well as killing the lawyer, Asahara’s disciples murdered his wife and their 1-year-old son. A further 12 of his most senior acolytes were also hanged on the same day.