PLOT IN JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1921, Page 5

PLOT IN JAPAN.

SENSATIONAL RAID. THREAT TO STATE’S SAFETY. BOOTY HINTS AT SEDITION, By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received May I*2, 1.30 a.m. Tokio, May 10. News was released to-day of a sensational raid made on February 12 on the headquarters of a religious sect called Omotokyo, resulting in the arrest of the leaders and the seizure of several millions worth of gold and silver coins and quantities of arms and ammunition. The prisoners include a former admiral and the editor of a large Osaka daily newspaper. They are held on charges of lese majeste, and also of issuing secret pub’ications involving the safety of the State. TKe Omotokyo headquarters are in a small town near Kyoto, whence two hundred police from Kyoto descended surrounding their temple during a religious celebration. They seized a god from the altar despite the horror of the assembled worshippers and destro.yed the image. The police then searched vaults under the temple, discovering treasure, arms and tons of seditious literature. News of the arrests were suppressed for fear of the effects upon the minds of many thousands of Omotokyo followers throughout the country. —Reuter Service. [Lese majeste means any crime committed against the sovereign power of a State.]