A former companion of the Buddhist leader arrested for supplying mercury to his followers speaks: "He was not an ordinary man"

A Buddhist leader has been arrested in the town of Abanilla, in Murcia, accused of a crime against public health after supplying mercury to his followers as a supposed miraculous elixir. In addition, the guru will face a second accusation for drug trafficking, supply and marketing of products and medicines for this same reason.

The Telecinco program TardeAR echoed the news this Wednesday thanks to investigative journalist Manu Marlasca, a regular on the program presented by Ana Rosa Quintana. To do this, they have spoken with a former companion of the man, who has given more details about him and how he could have threatened the health of his followers.

Javier Nieves is a former member of the foundation in which the Buddhist leader, who called himself Total Transcendence among his followers, carried out his work. “He was a normal man who was following a spiritual path when I met him, in 2009. He was an unusual man, because a teacher of his stature is not very common,” he said.

“As the years have gone by, I believe that this use of mercury has affected him closely, because mercury is extremely toxic and very dangerous at a neuronal level,” he explained to the TardeAR microphones, later clarifying that it did not provide liquid mercury, but “mercury that was transmuted into solid because he was an alchemist.”

Nieves has recounted his exact experience with the Buddhist leader and his relationship with the mercury supplied. “We would play it for a few seconds and give it to the next person, and we would say what we had felt, without further ado,” she said. The man claims to have “not seen or used drugs, sexual themes, or anything.”

“Logically, over time you find out things, but that cannot be said because I have no record of them,” he continued explaining. The former member of the foundation confirms not having any relationship with the detainee. “They kicked me out of there, because I lived in the cave with my ex-partner, and they offered to build me a house there, but I said no because if I accidentally raised an eyebrow at them, they were going to kick me out too,” he said.