Katsuya Takahashi, the last remaining fugitive of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which committed the 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, has been arrested by Japanese police.
The 54-year-old cult member has spent the last 17 years in hiding following the sarin gas attack, which killed 13 people and injured around 6,000. He is suspected of driving a fellow member of the cult to the subway station to release the gas.
The last remaining fugitive of the doomsday cult has been arrested
Police stepped up their hunt for Takahashi after catching another suspect, Naoko Kikuchi, earlier in June. Her information revealed that the former bodyguard has been working in Kawaski under an alias.
Although Katsuya Takahashi managed to flee before police arrived, authorities were able to obtain a recent photo of Takahasi.
Katsuya Takahashi, center, is driven to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department after being arrested
It was this picture that finally led to the Aum cult fugitive's arrest, after a coffee shop employee recognised Takahashi in his comic book cafe in downtown Toyko.
Takahashi had changed his appearance over the years to avoid detection. Thousands of copies of the new photo were circulated by police
The fugitive admitted his identity as soon as he was approached by police, according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK.
The 54-year-old, who was a bodyguard for the cult's leader Shoko Asahara, according to AP, has now been taken into custody in Toyko.
Shoko Asahara is awaiting execution
Thirteen of Aum Shinrikyo cult members have been sentenced to death for their crimes, while 200 of the cult's members have been arrested.
The "dangerous religion" of Aum Shinrikyo has now splintered into two groups, Aleph and Hikari no Wa. However at its most potent, it claimed to have 9,000 members in Japan, and as many as 40,000 worldwide.
Group members believed that the world would end in a World War III instigated by the United States, which would climax in a nuclear Armageddon. Only members of Aum Shinrikyo cult would survive, following this culmination, which was predicted for 1997.
Katsuya Takahashi Arrested In Toyko