DEADLY PLOT Doomsday cult behind gas attack that left 6,000 injured is using sick tactics to lure recruits amid ‘mass murder’ fears
The US Sun/February 1, 2026
By Claudia Lee
A doomsday cult behind a deadly chemical attack is recruiting a new generation of followers – with fears of “indiscriminate mass murder”.
Aum Shinrikyo released nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in 1995 – in the country’s most catastrophic attack to date.
In 2018, 13 of its leaders were executed, and the cult was classified as a terrorist organisation in the UK, US, the EU, Russia and Canada.
But their followers have not disappeared.
Today, they operate under the guise of a new name – Aleph – and they are actively recruiting, totalling 1,190 members as of April last year.
The group is still “conducting activities under the absolute influence” of its former leader, Chizuo Matsumoto, Japan’s Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said.
Also known as Shoko Asahara, terrorist Matsumoto was the mastermind of the Tokyo subway attack. He was among those executed in 2018.
But his legacy continues – with his son leading Aleph and his wife taking a top role.
The group worships and teaches the ideas of Matsumoto, sources say – while targeting young potential recruits.
“There is a risk that they will commit acts of indiscriminate mass murder,” Suzuki warned.
Two other splinter groups – Hikari no Wa and Yamada-ra no Shudan – are also active and under close surveillance by intelligence agencies.
It’s feared the groups are recruiting young people who may be unaware of the 1995 attack – often by approaching them in the street to attend yoga or “spiritual” workshops and initially hiding their identity.
The intelligence official said it’s a “deceitful method” using “psychological pressure”.
Today, Matsumoto’s son calls himself the “second-generation guru” and the new leader of Aleph.
He carries out rituals including a “reincarnation festival” and “initiation” – while giving his own hair to members.
While the threat of a fresh attack looms, there is uncertainty over how it could be carried out.
But among the most chilling details of Aum Shinrikyo’s manifesto was its attempt to manufacture nuclear weapons.
Social psychologist Kimiaki Nishida told The Sun: “There is no indication that Aleph currently has members capable of producing chemical weapons.
“Any future risk would be expected to take a form different from past chemical attacks.”
But the three successor groups “have dangerous elements that may trigger another incident in the future,” a senior intelligence official told The Japan Times.
Atsushi Sakahara, 60, survived the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway during morning rush hour 31 years ago.
In the years that followed, he created a documentary film, Me and the Cult Leader, and interviewed Hiroshi Araki – a senior figure and spokesperson of Aleph.
During filming, he was invited to one of Aleph’s facilities where he saw photographs of the former leader covering the walls.
Sakahara told The Sun that he witnessed followers watching videos of Matsumoto as part of their religious practices and could “clearly hear his recorded voice being played”.
He said: “As far as Aleph is concerned, the group still treats Matsumoto as an unquestioned authority.
“It was clear their core belief system had not fundamentally changed since the 1995 attack.
“I also sensed a kind of defiant, deeply internalised antisocial attitude that has not disappeared.”
Survivors of the attack “live in fear” of the cult’s remaining members, who they say pose a continued risk to society.
Shizue Takahashi, whose husband died in the 1995 attack, told South China Morning Post: “Asahara’s second son was born and raised within the Aum Shinrikyo cult and has been indoctrinated during that time by his father’s teachings.
“If he becomes as powerful within the cult as his father was, I believe he will try to expand it and create a new version of Aum Shinrikyo.”
She added: “I want young people to be aware, so they don’t become followers too.”
Deadly nerve gas attack
On the morning of March 20, 1995, Sakahara got on the first car of the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line train at Roppongi Station.
A man was collapsed in a seat near the door, and a transparent liquid leaked out from a newspaper at his feet.
Sakahara could not focus his eyes, and his vision became darker, so he moved to the next car.
Sarin – a highly toxic nerve agent that can be fatal within minutes – had caused his pupils to contract.
The passenger Sakahara had seen at the door died in the attack.
Senior members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult had hit five trains on three separate lines.
The assault was intended to throw the capital into disarray.
The nerve gas, released by piercing plastic bags wrapped in newspaper, killed 14 people and left some 6,000 sick.
Sakahara was taken to hospital. He said: “The corridor had turned into something like a field hospital.
“While I was being examined, a younger doctor rushed over to the senior doctor who was treating me and asked, ‘Is there a risk of secondary contamination?’ The senior doctor replied, ‘We have no idea’.
“Hearing that, I thought, ‘So this is how I might die’.”
Aum Shinrikyo to Aleph
The cult Aum Shinrikyo was founded as a yoga society in 1987 under Shoko Asahara, born Chizuo Matsumoto.
It gained official status as a religious organisation in 1989, blending Hindu and Buddhist teachings before incorporating elements of apocalyptic Christian prophecies.
Cult members were told to reject their families, the material world, and give up their earnings.
Initiations included bizarre “energy transfer” practices involving drinking Asahara’s bathwater.
Most of the cult members did not fit the typical profile of a brutal criminal. The majority were young and diligent students.
Among them, a former medical student with a medical license, a Tokyo physics student and a physics graduate.
In 1994 Aum secretly killed the family of Tsutsumi Sakamoto – a lawyer fighting against their expansion into his neighbourhood.
Cultists released deadly sarin gas in the residential area Matsumoto, killing seven and injuring 500.
A year later, Aum’s membership peaked at around 11,400 in Japan and 40,000 in Russia.
Asahara claimed that in the coming Armageddon, non-believers would be doomed to eternal hell unless they were killed by cultists.
Believing they would be hunted down, they manufactured Kalashnikovs and chemical weapons.
Among the chilling details of their manifesto, Aum attempted to create nuclear weapons – but was unsuccessful.
Sakahara warned Aum’s successors may try again.
He said: “When conflicts escalate, chemical weapons are often used before nuclear weapons. This is critical.”
Last year one of Japan’s intelligence agencies identified the second son of Matsumoto as leading Aleph’s operations.
Matsumoto’s widow was also identified as an officer of the organisation.
Sakahara said: “Unlike France, Japan does not have an anti-cult law. While freedom of thought and religion is constitutionally protected, this also means that groups are effectively tolerated.
“At the same time, it is not legally possible to regulate beliefs themselves.
“And drawing a clear line around which actions should be prohibited is extremely difficult, making enforcement challenging.
“Education is the only viable solution."
“This includes exposing people to genuine religious traditions so they can learn to distinguish authenticity from manipulation, as well as cultivating critical thinking skills.
“The international community faces many serious challenges.”
Since 2000, Aleph has been subject to government surveillance.
It is required to report to Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency every three months, detailing the organisation’s membership and assets.
In 2020 the group was ordered to pay 1.025 billion ($6.89 million) in compensation to victims of the subway attack, following a lawsuit filed by a victims’ support organisation.
But compensation payments were delayed, and the group failed to register the membership of the former cult leader’s son and widow.
An apartment in Koshigaya where Matsumoto’s second son and widow are said to live is being used as the base of Aleph’s activities, Japan’s intelligence agency said.
Last year, after they rejected the agency’s property inspections, police raided the home and found tens of millions of yen in cash.
Sakahara said: “It is not good for society to allow cult groups with fundamentally antisocial roots and mechanisms of mind control to continue to exist.”
A lifelong battle for subway victims
There have been no follow-up government surveys on the health of the victims, and no one knows what the long-term effects of sarin exposure will be.
Professor Yutaka Matsui of the University of Tsukuba, a social psychologist who surveyed victims, noted: “There is a possibility that psychological and physical after-effects are worsening.
“People need to understand that suffering continues even 20 years after the incident.”
Japan’s government provided cash handouts to victims and bereaved families, but has not given continuous financial assistance for medical treatment.
Sakahara said: “Publicly available data detailing how many victims actually received payment has not been comprehensively disclosed.
“It is likely many affected individuals received no more than 1 million yen (£4,700), and probably in most cases substantially less, despite continuing to suffer long-term health effects.
“In all cases, these payments fell short of providing ongoing medical support or long-term assistance to address symptoms.”
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