Police on Thursday raided eight facilities tied to Aum Shinrikyo, including the cult's headquarters in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, over the 1995 shooting of then National Police Agency chief Takaji Kunimatsu.
Four Aum figures, including a former police officer, were arrested Wednesday over the attack, in which Kunimatsu was seriously wounded. The cop had confessed to the ambush in the months after it occurred, but was never charged, only fired.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department believes another cult figure, 37-year-old Satoru Hashimoto, was the actual gunman in the shooting. Hashimoto has been sentenced to death in connection with three murders involving Aum.
This is reportedly the first time police have raided properties tied to the cult, which renamed itself Aleph in January 2000, in connection with the shooting of Kunimatsu.
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