Japanese police yesterday swooped on the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult - responsible for a 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subways - raiding 27 properties around the country.
Among the properties raided were the home of two children of cult leader Shoko Asahara, who is on trial on 17 charges including masterminding the nerve-gas attack that killed 12 people and injured thousands.
Police said the raids concerned suspected forgeries over land purchase in Kawakami, near the mountain city of Nagano, home to the 1998 Winter Olympics.
"We requested police across the country to raid 27 locations in 13 prefectures today but no one has been arrested so far," said a police official in Nagano.
Some towns have mounted fierce protests against members of the Aum Supreme Truth Cult trying to move into their communities, including Otawara 130km north of Tokyo.
Two of Asahara's children - one 18-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son said to be seen by followers as the leading power in the cult - live in Otawara, which was among the sites raided.
About 1,500 people rallied in Otawara last Sunday to demand the cult close down a centre and that the sect leader's two children move away.
Television footage showed residents in and around the town marching to a former inn now used by the sect's followers shouting "We can't forgive Aum" and "Get out".
A Nagano police official said: "The raids were carried out on suspicion the cult as a whole was involved in falsifying a document submitted to a local government regarding a land purchase."
Police also launched a series of raids against the Aum Supreme Truth Cult in May, alleging that a 39-year-old male cult disciple forged documents under somebody else's name to buy land in the mountain village of Kawakami.
The cult escaped being outlawed under the Subversive Activities Prevention Act in January 1997 when a legal panel ruled there was no reason to believe it could still pose a threat to society.
Government ministers are again trying to enforce the anti-subversive law or draw up special legislation to ban the resurgent sect.
The government's spokesman said earlier in the week the ruling party was considering setting up a task force to crack down on Aum.
