Military poison-gas experts on Thursday seized chemicals found in a car owned by a secretive religious cult whose missing leader is reportedly sought by police investigating the subway nerve-gas attack.
The car's driver was arrested after a police chase in western Japan that ended with him crashing into a truck. Defense officials said a special 14-member military squad was dispatched to neutralize the bottles of chemicals discovered in the vehicle.Police also carried out a second round of searches of buildings belonging to the Aum Shinri Kyo sect. They seized more chemicals experts say are needed to make nerve gas like that used in the subway attack Monday that killed 10 people and injured nearly 5,000.
In raids Wednesday, police already had seized nerve-gas solvent, 22 pounds of gold and $7.9 million in cash. Also during those raids, several sect members were arrested in an unrelated kidnapping case.
Although suspicion had fallen almost immediately on the apocalyptic Buddhist sect, authorities until now have dealt cautiously with the group. The sect has denied involvement and has a history of lashing out with lawsuits at those who mention its links to the manufacture of noxious chemicals or complain about its activities.
Police have refused to confirm reports by Kyodo News Service and the Mainichi newspaper that they want to question cult leader Shoko Asahara on suspicion of plotting mass murder. But they did not deny the accounts.
News reports Thursday quoted Asahara's lawyer as saying his client was willing to answer questions. But he refused to disclose his whereabouts. Asahara dropped out of sight after the attack.
In sect publications, Asahara has warned that the world will end as soon as 1997 as a result of a series of horrible events but that up to 25 percent of the population will be able to survive if they join his group.
In the latest raids on cult properties, more than 500 police in full protective gear and carrying caged canaries as gas detectors took soil samples Thursday at a compound near Mount Fuji where they had found nerve-gas solvent the previous day.
They also began removing a two-ton cache of chemicals in vats and drums.
Police said labels on some indicated they contained chemicals with the elements fluorine and phosphorous. Kan Kimura, a chemistry professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, said both are needed for production of the nerve gas sarin.
Police also said they found large amounts of isopropyl alcohol, a common household disinfectant that is essential to at least one sarin manufacturing technique.
At the rural compound outside Kamikuishiki, 68 miles west of Tokyo, police on Wednesday found 50 people who were weak, ill or unconscious. Six were hospitalized, and news reports Thursday said doctors discovered they had been drugged.
Police said a 23-year-old female sect member told them Thursday she had been drugged and confined in a container at the compound.
Subway ridership was back at normal levels by Thursday, but many passengers remained edgy. Police handed out leaflets asking subway passengers to report anything suspicious they may have seen around the time of the poisoning.