Cult Was Studying How to Enrich Uranium, Paper Says
First it was nerve gas, then lethal germs. Now, a newspaper reports, police think a Japanese cult was studying how to enrich uranium, a process necessary to produce nuclear fuel or weapons.
Police found documents about uranium enrichment in the car of a member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, which is suspected in the deadly March 20 nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Sunday.
The cult has denied involvement in the subway attack, and no arrests have been made in the assault.
The documents on uranium were found during a police search of a car that was seized March 23 after a high-speed chase in western Japan.
The papers were marked “secret” and had been obtained from a Japanese contractor for nuclear power plants, the Mainichi said. Police were interrogating a cult follower arrested after the chase.
Late Saturday, the subway attack claimed its 11th victim, 53-year-old Katsuaki Tanaka, who died of kidney failure.
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