21.   The Asahi said police have yet to confirm that cult followers used the device in the Matsumoto attack but believe it is highly likely given the circumstantial evidence.

22.   The pair, who said they were cult followers, were accused of carrying potentially explosive sodium without the required permit.

23.   The three allegedly confined and broke the arm of a cult follower, a man who had tried several times to escape, police said.

24.   The weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine said investigators are afraid of random violence by cult followers.

25.   There was no indication that he claimed to have tried to stop it, however, and cult followers have described unquestioning obedience to his every directive.

26.   They also say they have obtained a warrant to arrest Yoshihiro Inoue, the man allegedly in charge of recapturing escaped cult followers.

27.   Though officials claim the children were often malnourished and neglected, cult followers call it religious persecution.

28.   The other two charges were the alleged murder of a cult follower who was trying to help a fellow member escape and the manufacture of illegal drugs.

29.   Yamauchi was also charged with burning the body of another cult follower who was allegedly murdered by Aum members, and with managing a Sarin nerve gas plant.

30.   Meanwhile, police also arrested a former member of the Japanese navy among cult followers for obstructing police duties, local reports said.