Terrorist Use of Biological Weapons - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 297

mence the operation in mid-April. However, the plan proved too ambi-
tious and was soon abandoned.
After this failure the Aum attempted to disseminate botulinum toxin
from vehicles equipped with a spray device, targeting the US naval base
at Yokosuka, the Imperial Palace, and government buildings. Since the
agent was harmless, there is no way of knowing if the dissemination de-
vice was effective.
In July 1990 the Aum tried to contaminate a water purification plant
with botulinum toxin. The plan was interrupted by police guarding the
plant, who confiscated the substance but did not prosecute the perpe-
trators.
Finally, about a week before the Tokyo sarin incident in 1995, the Aum
tried to disseminate botulinum toxin from attaché cases with built-in
spray devices. Three such cases were found abandoned at the Kasumi-
gaseki subway station in Tokyo, but nothing harmful was found in them.
Endo testified at Asahara's trial that he had been unable to produce botu-
linum toxin and had filled the devices with harmless liquid. 23
ANTHRAX In the summer of 1992 Asahara asked Endo to recommend
another agent for the Aum's BW program, and Bacillus anthracis was cho-
sen. Once again Endo and his colleagues were faced with obtaining a vir-
ulent pathogen, weaponizing it, and disseminating it. Evidence suggests
that they failed at all three tasks.
Retrospective analysis showed that the Aum had successfully obtained
B. anthracis, but that it was the avirulent veterinary vaccine (“Sterne”)
strain. 24 The source is not known, but as Endo had conducted research at
the graduate level at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary
Medicine, he might have known where to look. 25 It is also not clear
whether Endo know that his strain was avirulent; if he did, he presum-
ably withheld this fact from Asahara.
The first intended target was the wedding parade of Prince Hirono-
miya; however, the production program could not provide cultures in
time, and the plan was cancelled. Then, from 29 June to 2 July 1993 the
Aum conducted its most ambitious BW operation, aimed at causing mas-
sive numbers of deaths in Tokyo. Unknown, but probably very large,
quantities of a liquid aerosol (most likely crude culture, unprocessed in
any way) of B. anthracis was sprayed from the roof of the Aum's head-