The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation to find out who delivered a phony, anonymous threat that a Japanese cult planned to release deadly nerve gas at Disneyland during Easter weekend.
Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern said there was no basis for a report in Saturday's editions of The (Baltimore) Sun that authorities had stopped two Japanese men at Los Angeles International Airport a few days before the April 16 holiday and found instructions on how to make the highly toxic gas sarin."That just didn't happen," Stern said.
"A criminal investigation is being conducted by the FBI in an effort to identify and prosecute whoever was responsible" for carrying out the hoax against the amusement park.
Stern acknowledged that federal authorities had responded, as they do from time to time, to a reported threat at Disneyland, but "this one, like others, turned out to be a false alarm."
Local and federal units, including the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Defense, the Public Health Service and others sent people and equipment to respond to the threat, Stern said.
"It was a highly successful deployment of resources," Stern added. "As President Clinton said Friday, `We were ready to respond, if the threat had been real.' "
The Sun reported that the men were allegedly members of the Japanese cult suspected of releasing sarin in the Tokyo subway system last month, killing 12 people. The newspaper quoted anonymous federal officials.
The newspaper said authorities also found a videotape containing images about the planned attack, as well as additional evidence that the Anaheim, Calif., theme park was the target.
Disneyland released a statement late Friday saying it had received a threat to park visitors before Easter weekend and notified federal authorities. Disney said, however, that the authorities, which it did not identify, determined the threat was a hoax.
The Pentagon had no comment, and officials at the Japanese National Police agency said they could neither confirm nor deny the report.
The Sun reported that Tokyo police had alerted the FBI earlier this month that two Japanese men associated with the cult Aum Shinri Kyo were flying to Los Angeles.