Alex Trelinski
THE POLICIA NACIONAL has arrested the leader of a Murcia region cult who is accused of administering mercury to his followers.
The Spaniard named as Jose Manuel C. called himself Trascendencia Total (Total Transcendence), and has been charged with crimes against public health, the environment, workers rights, moral integrity, and unlawful association, following a year-long police operation.
The 50-year-old leader is said to have operated his Mahasandhi Foundation for the last 15 years at El Tolle north of Abanilla out of a 100,000 m2 complex, which has been sealed off along with a related warehouse at Lorqui.
Police officers found cave dwellings, warehouses, temples, bunkers, and clandestine laboratories as well as 180 kilos of mercury which is believed to have been bought on the ‘dark web’.
It’s alleged that the former chiropractor turned cult leader aimed to purify the mercury with alchemy to create energising and healthy elixirs.
Trascendencia Total’s followers began showing symptoms of mercury poisoning, which can include muscle weakness, numbness, poor coordination, memory problems as well as trouble speaking, hearing, or seeing.
As a means of financing the community, he would sell the elixirs to herbalists, online or to visitors.
Mercury residues were said to have been dumped into a septic tank.
The leader would also give out several types of ‘unhealthy psychoactive drugs’ to followers during rituals, police said, with the intention of ‘subduing the will of the consumers’.
A revolver, €90,000 in cash, and 19 kilos of marijuana was also discovered during the police raid.
Jose Manuel C. spent long periods locked up in his cave home alongside several women, while other followers lived in caves nearby.
Their devotion to him was so strong that many cut ties with their families to serve their ‘master’ according to the Policia Nacional.
When he was arrested, he had taken a vow of silence and communicated by writing on a chalkboard.
He is also accused of violating employment laws by making his followers work long hours to satisfy his or the foundation’s needs.
He also received many donations, which police said, ‘boosted his wealth in a relatively short time’.
Jose Manuel C has been remanded in custody and his foundation’s website has been taken down along with its social media channels.
READ MORE:
- Leader of a Castellon-based cult accused of sexually assaulting a follower arrested in Valencia
- Vistabella sex cult leader who hypnotised followers and filmed ‘ritual orgies’ found dead in prison in Spain
