Untold story of how a deadly Japanese doomsday cult bought 400,000 hectares in the Australian Outback to test a Nazi nerve agent on sheep - before they poisoned 5,500 commuters in Tokyo's subway-2

The group had brought with them mining equipment and chemicals including hydrochloric acid contained in sake bottles and glass jars marked 'hand soap'. Their arrival and what they would later do at Banjawarn Station is covered in a feature article in the latest issue of the Australian Federal Police magazine Platypus. 

Leading Senior Constable Mark Creighton told the magazine an AFP officer noted the amount of excess baggage the group was carrying and the jars of acid they claimed were soap. 'Customs invited them to put their hands underneath the bottles and pour it out and they said, "Oh, no, no, we don't want to do that",' Leading Senior Constable Mark Creighton said.'Then, apparently one of the Customs officers accidentally brushed against leader Shoko Asahara and were set upon by other sect members because they'd touched their "god". 

'They could not have done anything more to draw attention to themselves. Customs basically said, "Right, we're going to go through you like a dose of salts."Customs officers found ammonium chloride, sodium sulphate, perchloric acid and ammonium water, all of which was seized along with some laboratory equipment. The group claimed to be ignorant of local laws and said they were simply planning to do some gold mining. They paid $30,000 in excess baggage fees to cover equipment including a mechanical ditch digger, picks, petrol generators, gas masks, respirators and shovels. 

"Accompanying the group were six or seven Japanese girls who were under the age of 18"a group of people that are set up on the grass: Aum Supreme Truth members carried mining equipment and chemicals including hydrochloric acid to Perth in sake bottles and glass jars marked 'hand soap'. Pictured are chemicals left behind by members of the Aum Supreme Truth sect at Banjawarn Station© Provided by Daily Mail Aum Supreme Truth members carried mining equipment and chemicals including hydrochloric acid to Perth in sake bottles and glass jars marked 'hand soap'.

Pictured are chemicals left behind by members of the Aum Supreme Truth sect at Banjawarn StationLeading Senior Constable Mark Creighton said the group attracted the attention of the AFP for another even more sinister reason. 'Accompanying the group were six or seven Japanese girls who were under the age of 18,' he said.'Their parents weren't with them and the thing that struck us at the time was that this might have been child abuse because Banjawarn Station is miles from anywhere.'

Customs charged two members of the group, including 'head scientist' Seiichi Endo, with carrying dangerous goods on an aircraft and fined them $2,400 each but did not stop them proceeding. That same day the sect members travelled by air and road to Banjawarn Station, where they would set up a laboratory in the homestead's kitchen.

The lab would eventually be fitted with evaporators, bunsen burners, beakers, a rock crushing machine and its own generator but eight days after the sect's arrival in Australia most of the group had flown home. 

SARIN IN THE SUBWAY 

On the morning of March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Supreme Truth sect released the nerve agent sarin on five train stations in Tokyo, then the busiest subway network in the world.

The terrorists used the tips of their umbrellas to pierce plastic bags of sarin before disembarking and escaping in getaway vehicles. The coordinated attacks killed 12 commuters and poisoned 5,500, seriously injuring more than 50. Japanese prosecutors suggested cult leader Shoko Asahara knew about planned police raids on Aum Supreme Truth facilities and ordered the attacks to divert police attention away from the group.a person standing posing for the camera: Australian Federal Police travelled to Banjawarn Station in troop carriers from Kalgoorlie.

Detective Superintendent Blaise O'Shaughnessy is pictured right putting on a protective mask before undertaking a search at the property© Provided by Daily Mail Australian Federal Police travelled to Banjawarn Station in troop carriers from Kalgoorlie. Detective Superintendent Blaise O'Shaughnessy is pictured right putting on a protective mask before undertaking a search at the property.At the cult's headquarters in Kamikuishiki police found explosives, a Russian military helicopter and a stockpile of chemicals that could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people.

They also located cells containing prisoners and a safe holding millions of US dollars in cash and gold.Over the next six weeks more than 150 cult members were arrested. Asahara was eventually found hiding within a wall of a cult building on May 16. A subsequent trial found Asahara guilty of masterminding the Tokyo subway attack and he was sentenced to death. Asahara and 12 other cult members were executed in Tokyo in July 2018.A month later Asahara and several other sect members unsuccessfully applied for visas to return to Australia.

In coming weeks and months those who had remained at Banjawarn would source local chemicals to replace what was confiscated in Perth and buy earth moving equipment from Kalgoorlie, 350km south of the station. The group bought eight mineral exploration leases from the Western Australian Government, believing that would prevent outsiders coming onto the station without their approval.

'They had the mining leases and they thought they could do what they liked,' Leading Senior Constable Creighton told Platypus.a group of people standing next to a tree: Aum Supreme Truth bought eight mineral exploration leases from the Western Australian Government, believing that would prevent outsiders coming onto the station without their approval.

Police are pictured searching the property after the Tokyo subway attacks© Provided by Daily Mail Aum Supreme Truth bought eight mineral exploration leases from the Western Australian Government, believing that would prevent outsiders coming onto the station without their approval. Police are pictured searching the property after the Tokyo subway attacksPhyliss Thomas, an elder in the nearest Aboriginal community, would later report having seen about five people wearing 'space suits' at the property in August.

The group was standing by a twin-engine airplane while others were in the aircraft.Bill Leaver, who delivered mail and groceries to sheep stations in the region, told the ABC he found the new occupants of Banjawarn stand-offish Mr Leaver, who once delivered barrels of hydrochloric acid to the station, said he witnessed a man cutting the lawn with scissors and heard strange repetitive tapes playing in the background.Even more bizarrely, he spoke to a woman who said she was purging demons from her body by drinking mustard and salt water.

Mr Leaver told the ABC he saw no evidence the new owners had any knowledge of grazing or interest in running a sheep station. Sect members may have thought their presence had gone largely unnoticed but by October the AFP had contacted the National Police Agency of Japan and received information including Shoko Asahara's criminal record.'There was an officer based in Sydney we had a very good relationship with,' Leading Senior Constable Creighton said.

'And they replied very, very quickly to the effect that essentially, "these people are no good". The sect was suspected in Japan of conducting illegal activities but was classified as a religious organisation and police were wary of conducting overt investigations.a couple of people that are standing in the dirt: The Tokyo subway deaths brought international attention to Banjawarn Station in 1995. Japanese reporters are pictured at the property after news of the sarin attack broke© Provided by Daily Mail The Tokyo subway deaths brought international attention to Banjawarn Station in 1995.

Japanese reporters are pictured at the property after news of the sarin attack broke.Shinrikyo Aum, founded by Asahara in Tokyo 1984, was a belief system drawing upon elements of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, Christianity, yoga and the writings of Nostradamus. At its height the sect claimed tens of thousands of members. 

In 1992 Asahara declared himself to be Christ and Japan's only fully enlightened master, identifying himself as the 'Lamb of God'. Aum Supreme Truth sect members held unwavering beliefs in Asahara who encouraged them to drink 30ml bottles of his bathwater, which they bought for $300.  Headsets were rented to members with the promise of mimicking Asahara's brain waves and he offered his blood to drink as a way of achieving enlightenment.Asahara's stated mission was to take the sins of the world upon himself, claiming he could transfer spiritual power to his followers.

He prophesied a third world war instigated by the United States which only Aum members would survive. a close up of text on a whiteboard: The AFP removed the Aum Supreme Truth sect's 'Laboratory Door' from Banjawarn Station as evidence (pictured). 'Toyo Laboratory' was written in Japanese - a reference to sect member and Tokyo University physics graduate Toru Toyoda© Provided by Daily Mail The AFP removed the Aum Supreme Truth sect's 'Laboratory Door' from Banjawarn Station as evidence (pictured).

'Toyo Laboratory' was written in Japanese - a reference to sect member and Tokyo University physics graduate Toru Toyoda'A lot of the members of the sect were outcasts and excluded from society,' Leading Senior Constable Creighton told Platypus. 'They were either so intelligent that they couldn't relate to other people or they were in their own fantasy world.' Among the information Japanese police had received about the sect was its possible link to the 1989 murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, who had been preparing a class action lawsuit against them. 

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Reference: 23/05/2020: Stephen Gibbs for Daily Mail Australia 5 hrs ago