The country's largest Internet portal has provided the ad space free of charge on a random basis to help the National Police Agency collect information on them, agency officials have said.

The five include three former followers of the Aum Shinrikyo cult: Makoto Hirata, 40, Katsuya Takahashi, 47, and Naoko Kikuchi, 33.

Takahashi and Kikuchi are wanted for their alleged involvement in the March 1995 sarin attacks while Hirata is wanted for the alleged abduction and murder of a notary public official in February 1995.

The two others are murder suspect Ryoji Nagata, 37, wanted by the Hokkaido police and Noriyuki Miyata, 29, wanted by the Hiroshima police on suspicion of violating the firearms and sword control law.

The ads will be posted on the Web site, except for the top page, for up to one month, but not around the clock, NPA officials said. They will be linked to the sites of relevant authorities.

The move is in line with the NPA's campaign that started in November to boost efforts to find and arrest wanted suspects.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 12, 2005
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