Bioterrorism : Aum Shinrikyo - Police at First Overlooked Obvious Clues

In March 1995, five members of the Aum Supreme Truth cult used umbrellas to stab holes in sarin-filled plastic bags, releasing the deadly gas into the Tokyo subway system during morning rush hour. Within minutes, the poison had spread through subway cars and across platforms, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,500.

Japanese authorities were caught flatfooted. Although police and prosecutors have since managed to contain and neutralize the cult, repeated efforts to put it out of business have failed, underscoring the difficulty the U.S. and other allies face in their global anti-terrorist battle.

In the hours immediately after the attack, authorities scrambled to treat the victims and figure out who would commit such a crime in one of the world's safest societies. Most of the clues were right in front of them, underscoring how bad police agencies can be at identifying and acting on risks that aren't clearly outlined in their training manuals--particularly when their adversaries are highly motivated and secretive.

"The Japanese government overlooked Aum's weapons of mass destruction capabilities for more than five years" before the attack, said Naofumi Miyasaki, associate professor at the National Defense Academy.

The cult committed a series of successively more heinous crimes over several years--including kidnapping, murder and an earlier 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto that killed seven and injured 591--hidden behind its religious mantle and various shell chemical companies used to buy ingredients.

The cult reportedly amassed more than $1 billion in assets, forged links with the Soviet KGB and Japanese crime syndicates and infiltrated the Japanese police and military.

Each crime emboldened cult leader Shoko Asahara, analysts say. Even a chorus of complaints by the cult's neighbors, parent groups, fleeing cult members and the media didn't prompt the police to prosecute.

Jolted by the Tokyo subway attack, however, authorities put thousands of officers on the case and forced Japan's turf-obsessed police, military and security agencies to finally pool resources.

Evidence that had been available all along quickly pointed to Aum, including suspicious chemical purchases by dummy Aum companies, blueprints for Aum's sarin-making factory, aerial photos of the cult's Russian-made helicopter and recorded contacts between Aum members and senior Russian officials.

Within days, 2,500 police officers had descended on cult compounds across Japan. Television footage showed officers entering buildings holding caged canaries to warn them of poison gas. Inside, authorities found enough ingredients to make 6.5 tons of sarin, a single drop of which can be deadly.
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Over the next several years, Japanese prosecutors liquidated Aum's assets and applied anti-subversive laws to the cult. But Aum lawyers used constitutional and human rights arguments and some adept legal maneuvering to keep it intact and preserve its religious status.

The cult is now subject to inspection at any time and must report its membership details and finances every three months.

Hiromi Murakami, researcher with the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Strategy Institute, says that if Aum had been a bit more competent, and Japan a bit less lucky, the death toll would have been far higher.

Aum, which has renamed itself Aleph, today has 10 bases and about 1,000 members, down sharply from the 12,000 it boasted at its peak. Asahara's trial started in 1996. In a country where high-profile cases can last a decade or more, he remains in jail on charges including murder, kidnapping and gun and drug trafficking.
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In early May 1995, as Japanese law-enforcement authorities were collecting evidence linking the Aum Shinrikyo NRM to the March 20 poison gas attack which killed 13 commuters, and preparing what they thought was a strong case, they discovered, to their utter surprise, that they were under attack from an unexpected direction. According to media reports, four Americans arrived in Tokyo to defend Aum Shinrikyo against charges of mass terrorism. Two of them were NRM scholars. According to these reports, they stated that Aum Shinrikyo could not have produced the gas used in the attack, and called on Japanese police not to ''crush a religion and deny freedom'' (Reid, 1995; Reader, 1995).

Reliable reports since 1995 have shown that Japanese authorities were actually not just overly cautious, but negligent and deferential, if not protective, regarding criminal activities by Aum, because of its status as an NRM. ''Some observers wonder what took the Japanese authorities so long to take decisive action. It seems apparent that enough serious concerns had been raised about various Aum activities to warrant a more serious police inquiry prior to the subway gas attack'' (Mullins, 1997, p. 321). The group can only be described as extremely violent and murderous. ''Thirty-three Aum followers are believed to have been killed between ...1988 and ...1995...Another twenty-one followers have been reported missing [and presumed dead]'' (Mullins, 1997, p. 320). Among non-members, there have been 24 murder victims. One triple murder case in 1989 and another poison gas attack in 1994 which killed seven have been committed by the group, as well as less serious crimes which the police was not too eager to investigate (Beit-Hallahmi, 1998; Haworth, 1995; Mullins, 1997). So it is safe to conclude that religious freedom was not the issue in this case. Nor is it likely, as some Aum apologists among NRM scholars have claimed, that this lethal record (77 deaths on numerous occasions over seven years) and other non-lethal criminal activities were the deeds of a few rogue leaders. Numerous individuals must have been involved in, and numerous others aware of, these activities.
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Police at First Overlooked Obvious Clues

Asia: Jolted by a subway gas attack, authorities mobilized officers and pooled resources. Long-available data led them to the Aum cult.

• Technical Support generously provided by the makers of Good News Blog
• AI is sponsored in part by Dutch Amsterdam, Blanes Costa Brava Self Catering Apartments, and IerseBouwer.com

Police at First Overlooked Obvious Clues

Asia: Jolted by a subway gas attack, authorities mobilized officers and pooled resources. Long-available data led them to the Aum cult.

• Technical Support generously provided by the makers of Good News Blog• AI is sponsored in part by Dutch Amsterdam, Blanes Costa Brava Self Catering Apartments, and IerseBouwer.com

• Technical Support generously provided by the makers of Good News Blog
• AI is sponsored in part by Dutch Amsterdam, Blanes Costa Brava Self Catering Apartments, and IerseBouwer.com