Police on June 15 took into custody a man suspected of being the last fugitive of the former Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult on the wanted list for his role in the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
Police plan to arrest the man, if he is identified as Katsuya Takahashi, on suspicion of murder and other charges. He was caught in the Kamata area of Tokyo's Ota Ward.
Takahashi, 54, is suspected of transporting cult members who released sarin in subway trains to a Tokyo subway station in a vehicle on March 20, 1995. The attack left 13 people dead and sickened more than 6,000.
Takahashi was placed on the wanted list in May 1995 with two other Aum members, Makoto Hirata and Naoko Kikuchi.
Kikuchi, 40, was arrested on June 3, while Hirata, 47, surrendered to police on Dec. 31.
After Kikuchi’s arrest, police learned that Takahashi had been hiding in Kawasaki. They released video footage of a man believed to be Takahashi and updated images of him to the media along with a phone number asking for the public's assistance in finding him.
Police suspect that Takahashi conspired with Aum founder and death row inmate Chizuo Matsumoto, 57, formerly known as Shoko Asahara, and other members in the sarin gas attack.
