NPA promises to keep monitoring Pana Wave cult

The Japan Times, May 9, 2003
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/

Hidehiko Sato, chief of the National Police Agency, stressed Thursday that police will continue to monitor the Pana Wave Laboratory cult, citing public concerns over its members’ behavior.

“The bizarre nature of its members’ outfits plus a sense they are strange are causing public anxiety,” Sato told a regular news conference. “We have no plan to change our policy to build up efforts to resolve these concerns.”

The police are monitoring the traveling group, whose members are decked head-to-toe in white, although it has committed no crimes except for alleged minor violations of the Road Traffic Law.

The NPA says there are similarities between Pana Wave and the early stages of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, whose members committed the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, killing 12 people and injuring over 5,000.

On some critics’ concerns about overreaction by local residents and police, which some believe might have exacerbated problems with Aum, Sato said, “We don’t mean to be running them to earth in a blind panic. We just won’t overlook violations of the law.”

In Nagano Prefecture on Thursday, the group of about 60 moved in a caravan of 20 or so white vehicles from a parking area in Chino city, where they stayed almost a full day, through mountain areas near Matsumoto toward Gifu Prefecture.

Local police believe the group is likely heading for Fukui Prefecture, where it has facilities.

Members believe the world will end in the near future and that white clothing protects them from electromagnetic waves.

Read Another Article

Md. Priest Charged With Child Sex Abuse
TELEVIEWS

Related News Articles Topic(s): Panawave Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Panawave Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog