Tokyo Grabs the Doomsday Guru

摘要

It took 57 days for police to work their way through the maze. Beginning with the March nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways, the murder trail led to a chemical plant at the foot of Mount Fuji, to arms caches in Russia—even to the Australian outback, where the plotters apparently tested their killing power on sheep. The trail ended last week where most Japanese expected it would: in the darkened headquarters of the doomsday cult that calls itself Aum Shin-rikyo—"Supreme Truth." After four hours spent searching the corridors with flashlights, police came upon a coffinlike chamber attached to the second-floor ceiling. Inside they found guru Shoko Asahara lying on his stomach in meditation. He smelled as if he hadn't bathed in weeks and looked utterly harmless in a fuchsia robe.