Cult Owned Hoard Of Nerve Gas

A mysterious cult’s warehouses contained tons of chemicals that could have produced enough nerve gas to kill millions, a Japanese newspaper reported Saturday.

The national daily Yomiuri Shimbun quoted unnamed police officials as saying the Aum Shinrikyo cult hoarded the ingredients, which it purchased through a pharmaceutical company it owned.

Raids of cult facilities by police in protective clothing continued Saturday morning. Authorities have seized hundreds of barrels of chemicals from cult facilities, and millions of dollars in cash and gold.

Experts say the chemicals can be used to make the nerve gas sarin, used in a subway attack in downtown Tokyo on Monday that killed 10 people and sickened more than 5,000.

Police told Yomiuri Shimbun that the chemicals found could have made enough sarin to kill 4.2 million people in an attack on a city. The newspaper did not say how police arrived at the figure.