Murcian sect that gave purified mercury to faithful
The spiritual leader detained in Murcia kept 180 kilos of mercury in a bunkered area
The arrested man lived in a cave where the laboratories where he practiced alchemy were located
The leader of a community of Buddhist and Hindu spirituality in Abanilla (Murcia, 6,000 inhabitants) has gone to prison under investigation for half a dozen crimes. Among the matters that the police are investigating, the possible use of mercury, a highly toxic metal, stands out, which the detainee could have supplied to his followers as a supposedly beneficial product for his spiritual balance.
The arrested person, who called himself Total Transcendence and who has been in prison since Tuesday, presided over ceremonies where he supplied his followers with highly toxic substances.
The farm of more than 10 hectares where the Mahasandhi foundation had its headquarters was not a simple spiritual retreat center in Abanilla (Murcia, 6,000 inhabitants). Its leader, who was imprisoned this Tuesday accused of five crimes, including against public health, hid in that complex about 180 kilos of mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal, in addition to cinnabar, a mineral whose main compound is that metal.. According to the investigation, the arrested person, with the initials J. M. C. and who called himself Total Transcendence, presided over ceremonies and retreats where substances that can cause serious damage to health were administered. He wanted to make “purified mercury,” to which he attributed energizing and vitalizing effects. The manufacture corresponded to its followers, who began to have symptoms caused by the neurotoxicity of mercury.
In the searches, the police also found various substances for the practice of alchemy, documents on experimentation with these dangerous substances, 19 kilos of marijuana, a revolver and 90,000 euros in cash.
Locating the vault that hid the mercury was one of the previous tasks carried out by the National Police before proceeding to arrest the leader, who had already been supplying this substance to his followers as an elixir with magical or healing powers. J. M. C., baptized by local media as The Lama of Murcia, lived in a cave within the complex that served as headquarters for his foundation, Mahasandhi. The website, which is out of service, like the profiles on social networks, advertised the courses and products developed by the organization. In the same complex, a dozen adepts resided, also in caves. The followers were in charge of carrying out, in the laboratories of the complex itself and in an industrial warehouse located in the municipality of Lorquí, about 30 kilometers away, a substance they called “purified mercury.”
The arrested man distributed these “elixirs” among his followers in rituals and ceremonies and also sold them in herbalists, in the foundation itself and even online, according to investigators. This heavy metal is not sold to the general public, so the suspicion is that the spiritual leader accessed it through the so-called dark web. The police are also investigating whether the waste from these practices was deposited in a septic tank within the complex itself, since that would have a «highly toxic» effect on the environment.
Investigators, in a statement made public Wednesday, refer to the group as a “cult.” According to police sources, during the retreat and meditation ceremonies held at the foundation, the detainee's followers took different psychoactive drugs and the alleged teacher took advantage of the effects of these substances to subdue his will.
The detainee spent long periods locked up in his cave house accompanied by several women who assisted him and carried out the tasks that he entrusted to them. “The devotion to the figure of the leader was such that these people supposedly abandoned the entire relationship with their family and social circle to faithfully devote themselves to his decisions,” say police sources, who add that both the leader and his followers maintained a “vote of silence” for long periods of time. The arrested man remained silent during his arrest and has communicated with the police with a whiteboard.
Regarding the financing of this organization, in addition to the sale of the compounds, the police consider that it came from donations and payments of fees and activities of the followers of J. M. C., which could be consulted on the website and which ranged from 30 and 157 euros per month. The detainee “increased his assets in a relatively short time,” according to the police, since his followers also voluntarily did all the work required at the foundation, all without meeting the legal requirements, in addition to working long hours.
Crimes investigated
The crimes for which the alleged spiritual leader is being investigated are illicit association, against public health, against the environment, against workers' rights and against moral integrity.
In the images of the police operation, numerous hiding places can be seen in the registered facilities, such as a closet that leads to different rooms in which the agents found a firearm hidden in a safe and a good number of knives, including knives. and jungle machetes. The laboratories also had numerous substances perfectly classified, some of them classified as “very toxic” by those investigated themselves.
The investigation began thanks to citizen collaboration: several neighbors informed the investigators of their suspicions about what was happening in the complex, via email.
Agents of the National Police have arrested in Albanilla, Murcia, the leader of a spiritual community who presided over a foundation created to organize retreats and other activities. He allegedly used different techniques of coercive manipulation, among which was the supply of psychoactive substances dangerous to health, with the intention of manipulating the will of his followers for economic and power purposes.
This operation, coordinated by the General Information Commissariat and developed by the Provincial Information Brigade of Murcia, has required the collaboration of other police units such as the Air Unit of the National Police, Technical Interventions Operational Group, Canine Guides, Prevention Unit and Reaction, Scientific Police and the Behavior Analysis Service.
In addition, the operation has had the support of the State Labor and Social Security Inspection Body, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Health, both of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, the Murcia Firefighters Consortium, and the Local Police of Abanilla. and Abarán (Murcia). All this under the direction of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number Three of Cieza (Murcia).
The spiritual community, which had been established approximately 15 years ago in said town, had a large estate of approximately 100,000 square meters, inside which there were many cave houses, shelters, warehouses, temples, bunkers and laboratories. The detainee spent most of the year in one of these caves where the laboratories where he practiced alchemy were located.
The central unit of the Police, in an operation carried out for a year in collaboration with several groups from the Murcia Headquarters, searched last Friday the Buddhist farm and the Lorquí company where the elixirs were made and arrested the leader. of the group, a «thin man, who was always naked from the waist up and who did not show off anything,» says his former collaborator in the rituals.