Editing Shoko Asahara (section)

===Additional incidents before 1995===
The cult is known to have considered [[assassination]]s of several individuals critical of the cult, such as the heads of Buddhist sects [[Soka Gakkai]] and [[Happy Science|The Institute for Research in Human Happiness]]. After cartoonist [[Yoshinori Kobayashi]] began satirizing the cult, he was included on Aum's assassination list. An assassination attempt was made on Kobayashi in 1993.<ref name=david>{{cite news|last1=McNeill|first1=David|title=Nous ne sommes pas Charlie: Voices that mock authority in Japan muzzled|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/01/26/issues/nous-ne-sommes-pas-charlie-voices-mock-authority-japan-muzzled|work=The Japan Times|date=January 26, 2015}}</ref> In 1991, Aum began to use [[wiretapping]] to get [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|NTT]] uniforms/equipment and created a manual for wiretapping.<ref name="WIRED"/>

In July 1993, cult members sprayed large amounts of liquid containing ''[[Bacillus anthracis]]'' spores from a cooling tower on the roof of Aum Shinrikyo's Tokyo headquarters. However, their plan to cause an [[anthrax]] epidemic failed. The attack resulted in a large number of complaints about bad odors but no infections.<ref name="Takahashi2004">{{cite journal|last1=Takahashi|first1=Hiroshi|title=Bacillus anthracis Bioterrorism Incident, Kameido, Tokyo, 1993|journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases|date=2004|volume=10|issue=1|pages=117–20|doi=10.3201/eid1001.030238|pmid=15112666|pmc=3322761}}</ref> At the end of 1993, the cult started secretly manufacturing the nerve agents [[sarin]] and later [[VX (nerve agent)|VX]]. Aum tested its sarin on sheep at [[Banjawarn Station]], a remote pastoral property in Western Australia, killing 29 sheep. Both sarin and VX were then used in several assassinations between 1994 and 1995.<ref name="Tandfon"/><ref name="Research"/>

At the end of 1994, the cult broke into the [[Hiroshima]] factory of [[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]], in an attempt to steal technical documents on military weapons such as tanks and artillery.<ref name="kaplan2" /> In December 1994 and January 1995, [[Masami Tsuchiya (terrorist)|Masami Tsuchiya]] of Aum Shinrikyo synthesized 100 to 200&nbsp;grams of VX which was used to attack three people. On December 2, Noboru Mizuno was attacked with syringes containing [[VX nerve agent]], leaving him in a serious condition.<ref>{{cite news|first=Pamela|last=Zurer|title=Japanese cult used VX to slay member|work=Chemical and Engineering News|year=1998|volume=76|number=35}}</ref> The VX victim, who Asahara had suspected was a spy, was attacked at 7:00&nbsp;a.m. on December 12, 1994, on a street in [[Osaka]] by [[Tomomitsu Niimi]] and another Aum member, who sprinkled the nerve agent on his neck. He chased them for about {{convert|100|yd|m}} before collapsing, dying ten days later without coming out of a deep coma. Doctors in the hospital suspected at the time he had been poisoned with an [[organophosphate]] pesticide. But the cause of death was pinned down only after cult members were arrested for the [[Tokyo subway sarin attack|subway attack in Tokyo]] in March 1995 confessed to the killing.<ref name="Tandfon"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/1999/11/04/national/the-asahara-trial-aum-member-explains-vx-attack/|title=The Asahara Trial: Aum member explains VX attack|work=Japan Times|date=November 4, 1999 |accessdate=2023-03-04}}</ref><ref name="Research">{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Syringe-and-tube-used-to-injure-two-victims-The-photographs-were-given-to-Tu-by_fig1_343395749|title=The use of VX as a terrorist agent: action by Aum Shinrikyo of Japan and the death of Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia: four case studies|work=Research Gate|accessdate=2023-03-04}}</ref>

On January 4, Hiroyuki Nagaoka, an important member of the Aum Victims' Society, a civil organization that protested against the sect's activities, was assassinated in the same way.<ref name="Tandfon">{{cite journal|title=The use of VX as a terrorist agent: action by Aum Shinrikyo of Japan and the death of Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia: four case studies|journal=Global Security: Health, Science and Policy|year=2020 |doi=10.1080/23779497.2020.1801352 |last1=Tu |first1=Anthony T. |volume=5 |pages=48–56 |s2cid=226613084 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/es/el-agente-vx-un-veneno-diez-veces-m%C3%A1s-potente-que-el-sar%C3%ADn/a-37711570|title=El agente VX: un veneno diez veces más potente que el sarín|publisher=Deutsche Welle|accessdate=2023-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/skin-on-fire-a-firsthand-account-of-a-vx-attack-1487937315|title=Skin on Fire: A Firsthand Account of a VX Attack|work=Washington State Journal|date=February 24, 2017 |accessdate=2023-03-04 |last1=Gale |first1=Alastair }}</ref><ref name="Research"/>
In February 1995, several cult members kidnapped Kiyoshi Kariya, a 69-year-old brother of a member who had escaped, from a Tokyo street and took him to a compound in [[Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi|Kamikuishiki]] near [[Mount Fuji]], where he was killed. His corpse was destroyed in a [[microwave]]-powered incinerator and the remnants disposed of in [[Lake Kawaguchi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/01/aum-shinri-kyo-fugitive|title=Aum Shinrikyo cult fugitive turns himself in after 16 years|work=[[The Guardian]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=January 1, 2012}}</ref> Before Kariya was abducted, he had been receiving threatening phone calls demanding to know the whereabouts of his sister, and he had left a note saying, "If I disappear, I was abducted by Aum Shinrikyo".<ref name="Tandfon"/> 

Police made plans to simultaneously raid cult facilities across Japan in March 1995.<ref name=chrono>{{cite news| title=Chronology: Events involving Aum Shinrikyo|work=The Nikkei Weekly|publisher=The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Incorporated|location=New York|page=Issues & People, page 3|date=May 22, 1995}}</ref> Prosecutors alleged Asahara was tipped off about this and that he ordered the Tokyo subway attack to divert police.<ref name="Research"/> Meanwhile, Aum had also attempted to manufacture 1,000 [[assault rifle]]s, but only completed one.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/837000.stm|title=Japan cultists sentenced to death|date=July 17, 2000|publisher=BBC News|access-date=January 2, 2012}}</ref> According to the testimony of Kenichi Hirose at the [[Tokyo District Court]] in 2000, Asahara wanted the group to be self-sufficient in manufacturing copies of the [[Soviet Union]]'s main infantry weapon, the [[AK-74]];<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2000/07/08/national/cultist-says-asahara-ordered-1000-machineguns-be-made/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412133948/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2000/07/08/national/cultist-says-asahara-ordered-1000-machineguns-be-made/|archive-date=April 12, 2019|title=Cultist says Asahara ordered 1,000 machineguns be made |work=The Japan Times|date=July 8, 2000}}</ref> one rifle was smuggled into Japan to be studied so that Aum could [[reverse-engineer]] and mass-produce it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/10/25/aum-shinrikyo-death-cult-made-ak74-assault-rifles/|title=Aum Shinrikyo death cult made AK74 assault rifles -|date=October 25, 2018}}</ref> Police seized AK-74 components and blueprints from a vehicle used by an Aum member on April 6, 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/congress/1995_rpt/aum/part04.htm|title=IV. The Operation of the Aum – A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo}}</ref>