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Friday, July 9, 1999 Published at 07:23 GMT 08:23 UK

Doomsday cult under guard


Doomsday cult under guard
Mexican police have placed 150 members of a doomsday cult under constant guard in order to prevent them committing suicide.

The cult, known as Spiritual Prayer, is based in the central Mexican state of Michoacan.


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Police were alerted to the possibility of a mass suicide last month, after cult members were told to sell their belongings in order to prepare for the end of the world.

The instruction apparently came from the group's leader, Francisco de la Cruz, who has now disappeared.

Meanwhile, in northern Colombia, police are continuing their search for around 60 members of another doomsday cult.

The Stella Maris Gnostic Church members have disappeared into the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in the apparent belief that they had a rendezvous with a spaceship.

The cult members were hoping the UFO would save them from "the end of the world", according to a relative.

Nothing has been heard of them since the weekend.


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Internet Links

Cult Information Centre
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Doomsday Cults
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