Police removed boxes of medicines from a cult hospital Friday as part of a probe into whether the sect - suspected of carrying out the Tokyo subway attack - drugged members who wanted out of the group.
Police also searched several other cult properties after finding a stash of gun components in a car belonging to members of Aum Shinri Kyo, or Supreme Truth.As the investigation broadened, sect leaders accused police of persecuting them and spreading false information. They denied again that they had anything to do with the March 20 gas attack, which killed 11 people and sickened thousands more.
Sect lawyer Yoshinobu Aoyama accused authorities of using the investigation as "an excuse to increase state power" and to create a "fascist-like" state.
The cult hospital has been closed and under constant surveillance since police began raiding cult properties March 22. Today was the first time authorities had gone inside.
The hospital, on the second-floor of a four-story apartment building, is believed to have been used as a holding center for detained members, a police spokesman said. The sect reportedly tried to recapture members who tried to leave the cult.
Three of the hospital's doctors were arrested earlier on suspicion of having drugged six cult members who were found unconscious in the early raids.
The discovery Thursday of more than 100 triggers, barrels and other gun components was another shock for Japan, a country with tight gun control laws.
Former cult members have said the group made gun parts using sophisticated lathes and other machines at a factorylike facility.
The Asahi newspaper said some of the gun parts were discovered inside the door linings of the car, which was illegally parked at a Tokyo condominium. Police arrested three cult members at the scene, including the head of the group responsible for the cult's security.