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JAPAN - The National Police Agency has announced that the 20 million yen reward (S$319,800) for information that led to the arrests of former Aum Supreme Truth cult members Naoko Kikuchi, 40, and Katsuya Takahashi, 54, will be paid to three people.

This is the second time a reward will be paid since the reward system using public funds was introduced in May 2007, following the 2007 murder of British woman Lindsay Hawker. The culprit in the case, Tatsuya Ichihashi, 33, was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment thanks to information from the public.

For information on Kikuchi, who has been indicted for aiding attempted murder and other charges, 10 million yen will be paid to one person. As two people contributed to the arrest of Takahashi, who has been indicted for murder and other charges, 10 million yen will be split between them based on their contributions.

To protect the informants' identities, the NPA did not release their personal information, including their gender, or the distribution ratio.

The reward for the fugitives was initially 5 million yen each - 2 million yen from a private organisation of retired police officers and 3 million yen in public funds. But after another former Aum member, 47-year-old Makoto Hirata, who has been indicted for illegal abduction and confinement, turned himself in, public attention on former Aum members increased and the NPA decided to raise the rewards to 10 million yen in February.