Japanese Police Arrest Cult’s Top Chemist and 6 Others

Police arrested Aum Supreme Truth’s top chemist and six others Wednesday in an extensive raid on more than 80 facilities aimed at uncovering links between the doomsday cult and the poison gas attack last month on Tokyo subway riders.

The arrest of Masami Tsuchiya, 30, an organic-chemistry specialist, shatters the group’s elite “chemical squad,” which police suspect was involved in producing the deadly nerve gas sarin.

Tsuchiya, formerly a doctoral candidate at the University of Tsukuba, this nation’s premier science school, outlined chemical warfare techniques--including use of sarin and mustard gas--in a recent book by Supreme Truth guru Shoko Asahara.

Police also arrested Seiichi Endo, 34, an expert on gene engineering and a key figure in the group’s biological research. He is believed to have visited a major research institute in May, 1993, and purchased materials necessary for the genetic engineering and multiplication of viruses.

The high-profile arrests and raids were hailed by some as a major advance in solving the crimes that have shaken Japan.

But they also underscored the uncertainty that surrounds the police probe: Five weeks after the March 20 subway attack, which killed 12 people and sickened more than 5,500, police still appear stymied over key aspects of the case.

Although authorities have arrested more than 100 sect members, no arrest has been in relation to the gas attack. Tsuchiya and Endo were arrested on charges of harboring a suspect in the illegal confinement of a 23-year-old pianist. Other members have been charged with trespassing, expired car registrations and even possession of a butter knife.

Now officials are said to be readying charges against top cult officials of “preparation to commit murder.”

But that “preparation” charge suggests that police may not have hard evidence linking the group to the subway attack; the charge does not require police to prove the group carried out the attacks, only that it produced the gas with an intent to use it to kill. The charge carries a maximum prison term of two years.

Police also have reportedly seized more than 1,000 drums of chemicals and petroleum, cartons of documents and equipment ranging from laboratory beakers to machinery. But so far, they have not found sarin.

Officers quoted in Japanese reports say it is “unmistakable” that the sect made sarin at its Mt. Fuji compound, based on the chemicals and residues discovered there. Asahi Shimbun, in a lead story Wednesday, reported that a top cult official admitted under police questioning that the group made poison gas. But the newspaper’s story contained no details, as has been characteristic of the frenzy of vague, conflicting media reports on the case.

Sect officials are demanding an official announcement on police progress. Despite daily leaks to the media, police have not held a news conference or issued any statements. A police spokesman declined to comment--even to specify the number of people arrested.

Production of sarin and possession of chemicals to produce it were not illegal in Japan at the time of the subway attack, although a law making them criminal practices has since been hastily passed by Parliament.

Police also appear baffled by another central question: What has happened to cult leader Asahara? The bearded guru, 40, was last seen March 3 shopping for a slide-and-swing set in Aichi prefecture.

Fumihiro Joyu, his spokesman, said that he is in contact with Asahara every two days.