In the early hours of May 16, 1995, police raided the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s facilities in Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi Prefecture. At 9:45 a.m., cult founder Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, was arrested and taken into custody.
It was a historic victory for the Japanese police to have finally captured the man believed to be the mastermind behind the group’s subway sarin attack on March 20 earlier the same year, which had killed 13 and injured thousands in Tokyo.
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