Japan: Doomsday cult member is arrested over 1995 nerve gas attack

One of the two remaining fugitive members of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways has been arrested after spending years on the run.

Former senior Aum Shinrikyo cult member Naoko Kikuchi, 40, had been spotted in Sagamihara city, 20 miles south-west of Tokyo. She acknowledged who she was when approached by police, according to NHK TV yesterday. She was wanted on charges of murder.

Cult members, who had amassed an arsenal of chemical, biological and conventional weapons in anticipation of an apocalyptic showdown with the government, released the nerve gas sarin in Tokyo’s subways, killing 13 people and injuring more than 6,000 more.

Nearly 200 members of the cult have been convicted in connection with the gas attack and dozens of other crimes. Cult guru Shoko Asahara is still on death row. The other member still on the run is Katsuya Takahashi, 54.

The cult, renamed Aleph, once had 10,000 members in Japan and claimed another 30,000 in Russia. It still has hundreds of members. It is under police surveillance and its leaders have publicly disavowed Asahara.