The reach of the Aurn Shinrikyo cult has proved wider than anyone expected. Its ranks included former members of organized-crime syndicates, policemen and more than 30 members of the Self-Defense Forces, Japan’s army. Two army sergeants warned their cult leaders in March of an impending raid, authorities said.
Police arrested more than 150 cult members, but at the weekend, guru Shoko Asa-hara was still on the loose. Authorities had been holding off a manhunt until they’d recovered the culls stockpiles of the deadly chemical satin. In one raid, they found a note: “If police ever enter the place where master Asahara is hiding, we will throw sarin at them and die together.” Authorities now seem willing to take that risk. Last week they put out the order to track the guru down–and deployed 60,000 police to guard parks, shopping malls and subways in case the cult strikes again.
