Zarina and her boyfriend tell conflicting stories

JAKARTA (JP): Zarina Mirafsur had more than just a close relationship with 30-year-old Ahian Santoso, alias Yeye, the man she was arrested with early on Thursday morning, city police chief of detectives hinted on Friday.

Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said there was a possibility that the relationship was not "just friendship, but love".

"She says she went there to stop him from smoking shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine). Let's see how much truth there is in this."

Police detained 10 suspects, including Zarina and Ahian, and confiscated 835 ecstasy pills, 51.2 grams of shabu-shabu, 28 pornographic movies, six bongs and two small scales from five apartment rooms, including the one Zarinah was caught in, at the hotel in Jl. Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta.

Zarina said at the city police headquarters on Friday that she had always tried to stop Ahian from taking drugs.

"When someone uses drugs he is not a criminal, but a victim. Don't call him a criminal. The reason I went to the hotel that night was to talk some sense into him, not to use drugs," Zarina told reporters outside police headquarters.

Capt. Illyas Said of the narcotics unit led Friday's eight- hour questioning of Ahian and Zarina in his office at the city police headquarters. He had a tough time acting as referee between both of them.

Zarina insisted on saying that she had just entered the room when the police arrived on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a tired-looking Ahian countered, "The drugs belonged... you know... to both (Zarina and me) of us."

Zarina's brother-in-law Budiyono, who was present at the interrogation, banged the desk and said, "Listen to yourself Ahian... Don't you be a banci (transvestite)! They were your drugs. Tell the truth. She's not at fault and you know it."

The argument went on from 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Neither party was willing to confess to ownership of the shabu-shabu, amounting to five grams, and the bong.

A close friend of Zarina said Zarina had fallen in love with Ahian from the moment she first laid eyes on him, some two months ago.

"The problem is he is a (drug) dealer and user. That's how she got stuck in this," said the friend, who refused to be named.

While Zarina, dressed in a white T-shirt, leather jacket and jeans, ate her lunch in Illyas's office, the other nine suspects were treated brutally by questioning officers.

When The Jakarta Post happened to open the door of one of the interrogation rooms, a questioning officer was sitting near the head of a male suspect, who was stripped to his underpants and spreadeagled on the floor, questioning him.

Another suspect, 26-year-old Ariananda Dewi, was hysterical throughout her questioning with the police. At least twice she screamed outloud and burst from the questioning room. "Don't leave me alone here! These officers will kill me," she yelled.

When officers dragged her back into the questioning room, one of Ariananda's visiting relatives said "this is what drugs do to you. When the effect wears off, one goes mad".

Separately, Zarina's former lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis said there was no way he would defend Zarina in court if her urine test turned out to be positive for illegal drugs.

"I was the guarantor... it was because of me she is out of jail on conditional release. I trusted her. If her urine test proves to be drug-positive, there's no way I'll represent her," Kaligis told the Post.

Alex added that the results of the urine test had not been released yet.

"We have not even done a blood test. The doctor's laboratory here does not dare carry out a blood test. They would rather do it elsewhere," Alex told reporters at the city police headquarters.

In a related development, Alex said that there were three people who were ready to testify that Zarina had been involved in drug dealing and trafficking in Bandung, West Java, during her conditional release.

"The three includes Ahian, a man called Pete and one other whose identity I will not reveal now," he said. (ylt)