A cult leader who doped his followers with mercury has been arrested after his sprawling 24-acre compound was raided by police.
Authorities scoured a compound in Murcia, Spain on Friday, where former masseuse José Manuel Cánovas, 50, who calls himself Total Transcendence, lived with 10 of his followers.
The estate in the town of Albanilla boasted temples, clandestine laboratories, bunkers, and cave dwellings, as well as a 200kg hoard of mercury.
This was used to make so-called ‘purified mercury’ – meant to be an energizing and vitalizing elixir, which was taken by followers, and sold online and through herbalists.
These ‘psychoactive substances dangerous to health’ were used by the cult leader to ‘manipulate the will of his followers for economic and power purposes’, according to police.
Several female followers had completely cut ties with their families and friends, spending long periods locked up with the leader in his house in silence.
The moment Total Transcendence was arrested for his involvement in the bizarre cult
Police said he and close followers lived together in caves on the site, making elixirs
Police raided the compound in Albanilla and detained the cult leader for alleged crimes against public health
Police said he and his closest acolytes lived in caves on site, making the elixir and coming down with ‘symptoms caused by the neurotoxicity of mercury’.
Waste from production was simply washed into the site’s septic tank – a practice the authorities called ‘highly toxic to the environment’.
His followers, who worked long hours, also made financial contributions to the cult – which was reportedly dubbed the Mahasandhi Foundation.
On its now defunct website, a page describing the process for membership asked for monthly donations of up to €2,000 (£1,700).
As police stormed the compound on Friday, they also raided a warehouse operated by the cult in the town of Lorquí.
Across both locations, officers seized €90,000 (£78,000) in cash, as well as a revolver, 19kg of marijuana, the mercury, and various documents pertaining to the chemical.
An earlier raid in the town of Abarán had already unearthed a cellar containing 180kg of mercury and cinnabar, among other substances.
Police said the cult leader was detained for alleged crimes against public health, the environment, workers’ rights, and moral integrity, as well as for illicit association.
Mercury is, as the label indicates, ‘very toxic’ and left followers with symptoms of neurotoxicity
Police were able to recover some £78,000 in cash found across the two sites on Friday
Waste from production was simply washed into the site’s septic tank – a practice the authorities called ‘highly toxic to the environment’
Cánovas reportedly established his cult in Albanilla some 15 years ago.
Spanish newspaper La Opinión de Murcia said the 50-year-old founded the Buddhist sect after returning from India.
It described how, on his now defunct YouTube channel, he would have a follower read his lips and speak for him, so he could maintain his vow of silence.
During his arrest, he reportedly communicated with police by writing on a chalkboard.
He also planned to build the biggest Buddha in Europe, the newspaper reported.