Tokyo, Japan - The police have arrested three members of the doomsday cult that carried out the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway on charges of running an unauthorized computer firm to raise funds for the sect, a police spokesman said.
The spokesman said cult members are suspected of sending computer experts on temporary jobs to several companies in Tokyo to raise money for the Aum Supreme Truth cult, which remains legal but under tight government watch.
Police raided 22 buildings, offices and apartments in connection to the case and arrested three cult members.
The three computer experts allegedly enlisted another man, who was also arrested, as the company's representative. He is not a cult member, allowing the firm to disguise its Aum link while doing business, the spokesman said.
'We will continue our investigation, with one particular focus on how IT firms are related to the operation of the sect,' he said.
In 1995, the Aum cult spread sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.
Japan has around 1,650 Aum believers, down sharply from the 11,400 before 1995, according to the Public Security Intelligence Agency.