SAITAMA -- An AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult follower was arrested Wednesday for acting as an illegal job placement agent, police said.
Agents from Saitama police' security bureau also raided a Tokyo condominium of cult mouthpiece Fumihiro Joyu and two AUM-affiliated software companies over the matter.
The arrested man, Hiroshi Yamada, has reportedly admitted to the allegation. "I have helped people find jobs at companies I know," Yamada, of Saitama, was quoted by police as saying.
Although rarely enforced, it is illegal to introduce jobs without the permission of the labor minister.
Police said the 35-year-old cultists introduced two computer school students to a Tokyo company in February last year without telling them his real name or the fact that he is a member of AUM. The students and the Tokyo computer software company have no relation to the cult, which now calls itself Aleph, police added.
Investigators are grilling Yamada to find out his motives for introducing the students to the company free of charge without telling his true identity.
Joyu's condominium in Setagaya-ku's Minami-Karasuyama district and the two AUM-related businesses were raided because of the suspicion that the cult is illegally acting as a job placement agency, police added. (Mainichi Shimbun, Jan. 16, 2002)