Chapter 1
THE END

    By February 1994, 100 litre chemical vats had been installed in Satian No. 7 building, according to prosecutors, and 30 kg of sarin gas had already been produced.

    On 19th March the police had ordered from the Self Defense Forces gas masks, chemical proof gear, automatic alarms and meteorological measures. Shortly afterwards Aum would receive a warning of the order from one of their members who was a member of the Self Defense Forces. 2

    On the 19th March 1995 two Aum doctors, along with three other commandos drove to Shibuya of Tokyo, and laid a final strategy. That night they boarded trains on the Marunouchi, Hibuya and Chioda lines to decide which train they would attack the following morning. They then returned to Kamikuishika, a peaceful village area near Mount Fuji in Yamanashi prefecture. After planning their escape routes on a map they went back to Satian No. 7 building (Satian means "truth" in Sanskrit.) of the Aum compound. There they collected plastic bags of sarin nerve gas from the late Hideo Murai, and then returned to Shibuya.3

    Shortly before Sam, on 20th March 1995, the sarin was released into the trains and people began dying. The doctors, Dr. Ikuo Hayashi and Dr. Seichi Endo, along with the other commandos fled. Eventually twelve people died and 5,500 were injured.4

    On the 22nd March 1995 over 3,000 police, some wearing gas masks, raided Aum Supreme Truth facilities all over Japan. From the Aum hospital in Kamikuishiki 50 people were found in a comatose condition from malnourishment and 6 others were found to be unconscious from over drugging. Later Dr. Masayuki Hirata, Dr. Kenichiro Katahira, and Dr. Takahisa Horn, along with Dr. Hayashi, were arrested for confining Aum members against their wills The police took six people to the Yamanashi Red Cross Hospital. One of these people had received electric shock treatment seventeen times. As discovered later this treatment was designed to eliminate a person's memory. As well as an erased memory the victim had bed sores, blood and puss leaking from his body, and bruises over his face. His hands were scared from needles, and urine tests revealed that many mind altering psychiatric drugs still remained in his body.6,7,8,9

    On the 30th March 1995 the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency was shot four times outside his apartment in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo. He survived the shooting which used drilled out bullets, which were to ensure maximum damage to his body. An Aum member who was an ex-policeman later confessed to the crime but his confession was not to be believed. This crime remains unsolved. 10

    Tokyo Governor Yukio Aoshima received a parcel bomb in his office. It blew off the fingers of the left hand of his secretary. Dr. Tomomasa Nakagawa of the Aum "Household Agency" later confessed to making the explosive device. 11

    On the 5th May 1995 a cyanide attack was thwarted in Shinjiku station. A burning bag which contained cyanide that could have killed ten thousand people was spotted in the men's toilets. The fire was subsequently extinguished. Dr. Nakagawa, was named as a prime suspect. 12 Later the doctor was arrested and charged with the crime.

    On the 5th of May 1995 a bacteria laboratory was found in Satian No. 6 building in Kamikuishikuma. Incubators were found which could produce botulism. Two hundred drums of peptone were found, a nutrient to cultivate bacteria. The quantity was that of a major pharmaceutical company. Another bacteria research laboratory was found in a building next to Satian No. 6. It was later found and reported that Aum members had gone to Zaire in search of the deadly virus ebola, which kills 90% of those it encounters. 13 It was also found later that Dr. Seichi Endo spoke in Russia on a radio about weapon viruses. Dr. Endo had studied at the Virus Institute and had graduated Kyodo University. He had his own experimental laboratories within Aum.

    Chizuo Matsumoto, the leader of Aum, known as Asahara, was arrested on the 16 May 1995 in Satian No. 6 building. 14 He was charged with many crimes including murder and the production of lethal chemicals and the production of mind altering drugs.

    In April 1995 it was discovered that two radio controlled helicopters were bought by Aum members in November 1993 for 3.4 million yen cash. The helicopters were never found, though by early 1994 it was known by the police that it were Aum members who had made the purchase. 15

    On the 19th April 1995 gas was found in the JR Yokohama and the Keilin Tohoku train lines and 700 people were sent to hospital. 16

CONTENTS