Zarina home for questioning

Zarina home for questioning

JAKARTA (JP): TV actress Zarina returned to Jakarta from the
United States yesterday to face police investigation, which she
managed to duck four months ago.

The 24-year-old Zarina, who is wanted in connection with
29,677 Ecstasy pills found in her West Jakarta home, arrived at
the Soekarno-Hatta Airport after a long journey from Houston,
Texas.

She was escorted by Indonesian police agents and her
Indonesian lawyers. Eyewitnesses said she was not handcuffed.

Instead, she received treatment befitting an actress: she left
the airport in a green BMW.

She was taken to the Jakarta Police Command, the place she was
supposed to have been taken to on the day of her escape, but
which she managed to avoid after duping her police escorts.

There were no mistakes this time. She really did arrive at
police headquarters.

If anyone was duped, it was the hordes of reporters and
photographers who had waited in the arrival hall of the Soekarno-
Hatta Airport since morning.

Zarina and her escorts disembarked from Garuda Indonesia's
flight GA 801 from Los Angeles and were cleared through a special
immigration channel. They left through a special exit, to be
immediately driven to the Jakarta Police command.

However, she entertained some questions by the few reporters
who accompanied her on her flight home. Some boarded the flight
in Houston, others in Los Angeles, where she boarded the Garuda
plane, and a few others in Denpasar, where it made a brief
stopover.

"I can't say much at this stage," she told an Antara reporter
on the flight from Denpasar. "I'm leaving everything to Him above
(God), and hope to get over this quickly."

Zarina said she felt really "hit" by the media treatment of
her.

"To be honest, I'm really shocked, especially by the media's
excessive exposure of my case.

"I'm very sad and distressed," she said.

When reporters asked Zarina to write down her feelings on a
piece of paper, she simply scribbled: "Once again, I want to
apologize to everyone for my mistakes."

Earlier, when she arrived in Denpasar, she said "I'm so glad
to be able to return to my homeland."

Although not handcuffed, the Indonesian police agents did not
let her wander too far at Denpasar airport.

The dark glasses failed to conceal her identity, and she drew
the attention of other passengers in the transit lounge as well
as airport and airline staff and duty free shop assistants.

Zarina's face has been on the front page of many local
newspapers as well as magazine covers in the past week or so
since news broke of her arrest in Houston. Wearing a cream top, a
brown and green blazer, and a pair of blue jeans, her long black
hair, with streaks of brown and red, and her slim figure gave her
away.

She declined to discuss the allegation of Ecstasy trafficking
with reporters, but stressed that she hoped everything would be
finished quickly so that she could get back to her routine
activities, including the possibility of returning to the film
industry, Antara reported.

Since the Aug. 7 arrest, Zarina has insisted the 29,677
Ecstasy pills did not belong to her, and said her house had been
used by a friend while she was abroad.

Her arresting officers disclosed then that she tried to bribe
and sweet-talk her way out of being investigated. She managed to
dupe her police escorts a few days later and flee.

On Nov. 4, she was arrested by U.S. immigration authorities,
who acted on a tip from the Indonesian police. Arrested on
charges of overstaying her visa, she agreed to leave voluntarily
and therefore avoid prosecution in Houston.

In Houston, she was reportedly aided by her sister and her
American brother-in-law, who works for the Indonesian consulate
general.

Police say they plan to prosecute her for trafficking in
Ecstasy, under the 1992 Health Law which bans the distribution of
dangerous drugs without official permits. If found guilty, she
faces a maximum of 15 years imprisonment. (27/bsr/emb)