Police confiscate AUM toxic treasure trove

Mainichi Shimbun, October 14, 1999

URAWA - Police have confiscated an array of material that outlines the study of toxic gases from several AUM Shinrikyo facilities in Saitama Prefecture, it was learned on Wednesday.

Authorities said the doomsday cult possibly collected data on the use of certain nerve gases, such as sarin and VX, as a means of building its defense for the trial over the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack in which 12 were killed and thousands sickened.

In raids on a facility in Tokigawa, Saitama Prefecture, in November last year, and computer factories in Kawaguchi and Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, in July this year, police seized computer floppy disks showing that AUM members had accessed Internet Web sites related to the composition, toxicity, manufacture and use of several toxic gases, police said.