MURDER CHARGES FOR CULT SCIENTISTS?

The 30 cult scientists sought on suspicion of preparing thenerve gas that killed 11 people and injured 5,500 others in Japanon Mar. 20 might now be charged with murder, a Tokyo newspaper reports. The possible homicide charge, for which the maximum punishment is execution, is more serious than the current "preparing for murder" charge, for which the maximum punishment would be two years. Insearches of cult properties around Japan, police claim to have found hundreds of barrels of dangerous chemicals, including ingredients for nerve gas, along with sophisticated biochemical labs and evidence that the sect had been working on biochemical weapons.