Zarina insists she's not drug owner

JAKARTA (JP): Drug suspect Zarina Mirafsur testified at a hearing of her alleged accomplice Ahian Santoso, alias Yeye, in West Jakarta District Court on Wednesday that she was not the owner of the drugs seized in a hotel room in West Jakarta last November.

"Defendant Ahian Santoso admitted during the arrest that the drugs belonged to him," Zarina told the presiding judge, Sri Handojo.

The panel of judges summoned Zarina to testify about the circumstances of her arrest in a hotel apartment in West Jakarta in November last year and her meeting with Yeye in a house belonging to Nazar Aliando, in East Jakarta on Oct. 1, last year.

Yeye and Zarina were arrested by West Jakarta Police detectives at a hotel apartment in West Jakarta during an early morning raid. The police confiscated 0.3 grams of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), tin foil, five Happy Five pills and paraphernalia used to inhale drugs.

"I arrived at the hotel at 6.20 a.m on Nov. 11, and went to room 1512 where Yeye stayed. But, five minutes later Maj. Ketut Gunawa and Maj. Sgt. Abad Harefa came to the room and arrested us," she said, while insisting that she had no knowledge of the presence of the drugs.

She said it was an accident that the two police officers were present at the room in the morning, since they were conducting raids in other rooms of the hotel.

"They knocked at the door after hearing both of us quarreling," she said.

Both officers then arrested Yeye and Zarina after they found the drugs lying on a table in the room.

Yeye has denied in the police report that the drugs belonged to him.

Meanwhile, Zarina, once dubbed as the "Ecstasy Queen" after being caught with around 30,000 ecstasy pills in 1996, said she only dropped by for a visit after being invited by Yeye the previous day.

Besides asking Zarina about the arrest, the panel of judges also asked if she knew Yeye was inhaling shabu-shabu during a gathering in a house in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, on Oct. 1.

Present at the gathering were the house's owner Nazar Aliando, Yeye, Zarina's accomplice, Jantje Gustaf Mustamu, a driver, Dedy Mulyadi, and Zarina.

Zarina insisted that she did not have knowledge about people inhaling shabu-shabu during the gathering, saying that the four were dancing and listening to the music.

"The studio at the house was very dark. I couldn't determine whether the four people were inhaling shabu-shabu," she said.

Yeye is indicted for possession and transporting drugs, a violation to articles 62 and 65 of the Law on Psychotropic substances.

The presiding judge adjourned the hearing until next Monday to hear testimony from Yeye. (09/asa)