Incident with Sigachev

The incident with Sigachev ( Jap. シ ガ チ ョ フ -) - an attempt to launch bombings in Japan by Russian citizen Dmitry Sigachev, followed by demands to release the leader of the sect Aum Shinrikyo Shoko Asaharu and his student Tomomitsu Niimi , one of the performers of the Zarichin metro attack

After the arrest of Asahara, Sigachev decided that without the spiritual guidance of the guru, without his ideas, humanity will soon die. This obsession later degenerated into the idea of ​​freeing Asahara, which he shared in every detail on the Internet, finding two like-minded people - Boris Tupeyko and Alexander Shevchenko - who decided to free Asahara and take him to Russia.

To do this, he needed money and weapons. They managed to borrow $ 12,000 from acquaintances, as well as get 2 TT-33 pistols and an AKS-47 assault rifle , which they tested in business outside the city limits.

Shevchenko, a former brilliant electrical engineer, made very sophisticated electrical voltages with remote detonation by a signal from a cell, allowing them to detonate bombs from anywhere.

The purchase of weapons left them aground, so Sigachev on the Internet contacted students of the sect in Japan. From Ishii Sinichiro , the leader of Kiren , whom he met in Vienna , received $ 30 thousand and returned to Moscow , later receiving another $ 90 thousand.

To prepare for the operation, Sigachev chose Vladivostok as a base convenient for its proximity to Japan. There he rented 2 apartments. But Shevchenko’s bombmaker emerged from the conspiracy and left behind detonators that no one could use except him, so Sigachev ordered the assembly of devices that could generate an electrical impulse via the Internet, but it was quickly cut out that a terrorist attack was reported, which was reported to the Primorye police.

The employees quickly established the addresses of the 2 rented apartments, but during searches in them nothing unusual was found, and Sigachev had all the necessary documents. After them, Sigachev moved to another apartment, taking all his weapons. At the same time, the FSB , despite the failure of the police to find evidence, identified the group members and their intentions and contacts.

Sigachev continued planning the attacks, contacting another 2 members of the sect from Vladivostok , Voronov and Yurchuk, who were involved in the sale of car tires.

From February to March, the group managed to change apartments: Sigachev himself moved to an apartment on Uborevich Street, and the others moved to an apartment on Tukhachevsky Street. Then they rented a warehouse from the garage cooperative to store the ordered weapons.

March 2, 2000 Sigachev entered Japan on a tourist visa for a preliminary study of the area to select the targets of the attacks. In the cities of Aomori and Niigata, he chose densely populated areas and the most visited places of rest, as well as places for installing bombs, filming them all on camera. Returning to the coastal region, he received a license to operate a small boat , on which he and Tupeyko planned to take out Asahara.

Tupeyko, using parts of Chinese alarms , made 7 detonators, but mistakenly activated one of them during assembly, undermining it, after which he was taken to the hospital. He spent the arriving police officer, inventing a story. After the incident, weapons and bombs were taken to various places for storage. According to the plan, Sigachev and Tupeyko were supposed to cross the border by plane, and Voronov with a sailor's passport - on a ship. On June 13, weapons bombs were transported to an apartment and packed.

On June 22, Sigachev landed at Niigata Airport . Alef leader Jo Fumihiro , having received information about the upcoming terrorist attacks from other Russian members of the sect, contacted the Tokyo Immigration Bureau and asked Sigachev to block entry, but entry was allowed. Then he contacted the Tokyo Police Public Security Bureau to conduct an audit, and also tried to contact Asahara’s daughter Rika Matsumoto with a proposal to try to persuade Sigachev to abandon the attacks. Sigachev, meanwhile, moved to Fukuoka , from where he intended to head to Okinawa , where at that moment the 26th G8 summit was going to be held, but thanks to a conversation with the police of Tokyo and Fukuoka , he decided that he would not succeed in implementing the plan, since they knew about the plans , and returned home on June 25th.

Despite the restrained reaction of the Japanese side, who did not want to inflate the matter, on June 28 Sigachev voluntarily confessed to the FSB’s Primorsky Directorate. On July 4, he and Tupeyko and Voronov (Yurchuk escaped, but was arrested a year later on July 13, 2001) were arrested. On January 23, 2001, the Primorsky District Court sentenced them (the sentence began on July 1): Sigachev - 8 years, Tupeyko - 6 and a half years, Voronov - 4 and a half years, Shevchenko - 3 years, Yurchuk - forced psychiatric treatment (he was recognized as socially dangerous, having managed to commit another unrelated murder case).