Japanese cult fugitive surrenders

Makoto Hirata, a member of Aum Shinrikyo, rear centre, sits in a police car Makoto Hirata (rear centre) was arrested on suspicion of abduction

A former member of Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo cult has turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run, one of three remaining fugitives.

Japanese police said Makoto Hirata gave himself up at a police station in Tokyo just before midnight on New Year’s Eve.

He had been in hiding since the cult’s sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, which killed 13 people.

He was immediately arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap the brother of a follower of the cult.

The man he is accused of abducting died after being given an injection at Aum’s main commune at the foot of Mount Fuji, officials said.

Only two other members of the cult are still being sought by police. They went on the run after the gas attack in Tokyo, which injured 6,000 people.

Nearly 200 Aum Shinrikyo members have been convicted of that attack and

Read More from the Article Source: Full Article


Filed under World and tagged , , , , .

Leave a Reply