'Ecstasy Queen' Zarina arrested again for drugs

JAKARTA (JP): City Police detectives arrested on Thursday morning former actress Zarina Mirafsur and nine other drug suspects at Hotel Mercure on Jl. Tanjung Duren in West Jakarta.

City Police chief of detectives Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said police confiscated 835 ecstasy pills, 51.2 grams of shabu- shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 28 blue movies, six bongs and two small scales.

"This is a big bust. We're not going to let her (Zarina) go easy this time," Alex said from his office.

"If you don't believe it's Zarina, see for yourself," he said.

Zarina then walked into the room wearing a black leather jacket, an army style T-shirt, black jeans and black leather boots with silver buckles.

Dubbed Indonesia's "Ecstasy Queen" after her first ecstasy case in 1996, Zarina said police recently detained her for over two weeks following an incident in Bandung, West Java, where she was allegedly caught using drugs with a police officer.

"They could not find anything against me then. I think they were just mad, 'cause they couldn't find anything. They've been following me ever since," Zarina said.

The 27-year-old admitted that the remaining nine suspects -- four men and five women -- were her friends, and that she knew they were having a drug party.

"I knew about it because a friend of mine called me up to meet him at Hotel Mercure and help him out," she said.

Zarina said she had become close to the friend, whom she identified as Aa (Sundanese for elder brother), since meeting him three months ago.

"He has a drug problem. After I was released from Tangerang's Women Penitentiary, I became a drug consultant at a Drop-In Center on Jl. Daksa in South Jakarta. Therefore, I decided to help Aa and went there," Zarina said.

"I was just opening the door to the apartment at the hotel when suddenly the police arrived out of nowhere."

Zarina said her friends had booked five apartments at Hotel Mercure.

Col. Abdullah of the narcotics unit said police apprehended Zarina in one of the apartments. He said she was sitting with a man who she called Yeye, and that shabu-shabu, smoking equipment and ecstasy were ready for use on a table.

"The result of her urine test will come out tomorrow (Friday). I'm quite sure its positive," Abdullah said.

The West Jakarta District Court sentenced Zarina in June 1997 to four years in jail for possession of 29,677 ecstasy pills at her house in the Taman Alfa Indah housing complex in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.

She was first apprehended on Aug. 7, 1996, by Tangerang Police detectives who found the pills in a safe at her house.

While she was in police custody, Zarina hit the headlines in local newspapers after she escaped to Houston in the United States.

At the time, Zarina asked former Tangerang Police chief detective Capt. Ade Sutiana to stop at her mother's house to allow her to take a bath. She then managed to escape.

Zarina was arrested in Houston on Nov. 4., 1996 by Jakarta Police detectives and was extradited to Jakarta on Nov. 17.

Zarina, whose four-year jail term was set to expire in November 2000, received a conditional release on Oct. 21 last year.

Under an agreement signed on Aug. 24, 1998, between her chief lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis and head of the Tangerang Women's Penitentiary Susy Marliana, Zarina began work at Kaligis' law firm immediately after her release. (ylt)