2 More Cult Members Arrested Crackdown In Japan Intensifies After Attack On Police Official

Police arrested two members of the Aum Shinri Kyo sect today on charges of carrying an explosive chemical, expanding a crackdown on the cult suspected in a nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways.

Several cult members were arrested last week on an unrelated kidnapping charge, and police made two more arrests today in Shizuoka, southwest of Tokyo. The pair, who said they were cult followers, were accused of carrying potentially explosive sodium without a permit.

The arrests came after officers mounted a huge manhunt in a quiet neighborhood Thursday after a brazen daylight ambush on Japan’s top police official and threats of new attacks if police continue investigating the sect.

The sect, called Supreme Truth in English, is the prime suspect in the March 20 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subways that killed 10 people and sickened 5,500 others. It denies involvement, but police have seized a cache of chemicals and equipment for making nerve gas in raids at the sect’s compounds.

The group also denied involvement in the attack on National Police Agency head Takaji Kunimatsu, who was shot four times from behind by a masked assailant as he left his Tokyo condominium for work Thursday morning. Kunimatsu was in serious condition after surgery.

The shooting was a fresh shock to Japanese already reeling from the subway attack. It marked another assault on a self-image of safety and security in a country where guns are banned.

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama called the shooting a contemptible act and ordered an all-out investigation.Kunimatsu had no bodyguard with him when attacked.

Police combed Kunimatsu’s neighborhood in eastern Tokyo for signs of his assailant, described as a thin, middle-aged man in a black coat who wore a surgical face mask. He fled by bicycle.

Several people believed to be followers of Supreme Truth were seen at Kunimatsu’s building on Wednesday, handing out leaflets criticizing police actions.

Transportation officials ordered vigilance. Subway officials have earmarked $11.1 million for new security cameras at nearly 150 stations. The first were installed Thursday at Kasumigaseki station, next to the headquarters of the national and city police.

It is widely believed that police were a primary target of the subway attack because all five trains with nerve gas parcels planted on them were bound for Kasumigaseki.

The timing of the attack - just as police officers were to arrive for their early shift - lends further credence to that theory.