Police broke agreement, says Zarina's father

JAKARTA (JP): Zarina, the Ecstasy-case suspect, who was arrested in Houston on Monday had told Jakarta police of her whereabouts and had agreed to go home and surrender, her father said yesterday.

Mirafsur K, father of the 24-year-old Zarina, who was popularly known as Zarima, said police broke the deal.

Speaking in a press conference, the 55-year-old property businessman said he initiated the agreement in a meeting with a friend of Jakarta police detective Lt. Col. Gories Mere about a month ago.

"It was my daughter who called Gories from overseas to arrange for her surrender," Mirafsur said, adding that his daughter's name was Zarina Mir, not Zarina as much of the media called her.

Gories was one of the five Jakarta detectives who were sent to Houston to arrange the arrest of the woman, who is accused of possessing 29,677 Ecstasy pills.

"After the agreement had been reached and Zarina agreed to turn herself in early November, she was arrested in Houston. This made her upset," said Mirafsur, who divorced Zarina's mother few years ago.

Meanwhile, the head of the Jakarta Police detectives Col. Paimin said Mirafsur could say whatever he wanted. "Let him say everything he wants. The truth will only be revealed later in court."

The woman, now detained at the Liberty County Jail in Houston, is waiting for her lawyer Amir Syamsuddin to arrive from Indonesia, Mirafsur said. Amir left for the U.S. yesterday.

"I've just received a call from my daughter today and she was very upset to learn the police had broken their agreement," said the owner of a hotel in the resort town of Bogor, West Java.

Mirafsur said Zarina only wanted her lawyer to hand her over to the police who would then take her to Jakarta for trial.

If not, she would rather be tried in the United States for overstaying her visa than go back to Indonesia as a fugitive who was arrested overseas, Mirafsur quoted his daughter as saying.

"But I guarantee 100 percent that she's willing to be brought here," said president of the Bogor-based PT Palm Griya Asri developer.

"Because I myself really want her to explain everything, including the real owner of the drugs, and the background of her arrest in Houston, to the police and court here," Mirafsur said.

Mirafsur, who was accompanied by his son Zulfikar, said Zarina ran from police custody here in August because she was afraid of the punishment she could get even though the 29,677 Ecstasy pills seized from a house where she stayed were not hers.

"She had told the police many times that she had no idea about the pills in the safety box, which belonged to a friend of hers, but still the police ignored her words," Zulfikar said.

Mirafsur quoted his daughter as saying she thought the box contained millions of rupiah in cash and was looking after it for her friend. Her friend's boyfriend, Edwin, rented the house. Nobody knows where Edwin is now.

"Zarina and I are close to each other even though we'd not met for a year until now," he said.

"We have all suggested that she surrender since she escaped in August but it seemed she had chosen her friends' suggestion to run away farther until last month, when she told me she wanted to surrender," Mirafsur said.

He refused to name Zarina's friends.

Mirafsur said none of his relatives had played any role in Zarina's escape. However, he admitted to having received telephone calls many times from his daughter since her escape from the Tangerang police detectives.

"But I have played no role in her escape," he said.

When asked about the possible role of his other daughter, Rovina and her husband Thomas Edmond Zani, who might be accused of hiding Zarina for a month in their flat in Houston, Mirafsur said: "It's normal in our daily life to protect our families." (bsr)