Zarina tells of her escape through S'pore

Zarina tells of her escape through S'pore

JAKARTA (JP): Ecstasy-case suspect Zarina has talked about her
escape, claiming that after eluding Jakarta police on Aug. 8 she
went to Singapore through Batu Ampar Port under a pseudonym, an
immigration official said yesterday.

Immigration supervisory director Zaiman Nurmatias' preliminary
questioning of Zarina revealed the TV actress said she departed
Batu Ampar to Singapore using a white ferry which can carry 50
passengers. She said the number of the passport she used was No.
E 192384.

Zaiman said Zarina went to the port from Hang Nadim airport in
Batam by taxi. "She said she gave the taxi driver Rp 350,000 to
arrange everything that would enable her to go to Singapore."

He said the money was used to pay a fiscal card, Rp 100,00O
and a boarding pass. The rest of the money was given to the
driver.

In the passport the driver provided, there was a triangular
mark meaning immigration officers had approved it.

Zarina did not personally face any immigration officials nor
did she stand in line like the other passengers because the taxi
driver escorted her until she boarded the ferry.

"I have no idea what name was used by the taxi driver to buy a
ferry ticket for me. I was so confused and worried at the time,"
Zarina said as quoted by Zaiman.

The Batam immigration office had carefully checked the list of
passengers boarding ferries from Batu Ampar to Singapore who
departed between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31. But no passengers bearing
Zarina's name were found.

Since leaving Jakarta Zarina said nobody had the courage to
help her escape. She said she wore dark glasses and a black head
dress to conceal her identity.

The 24-year-old woman did not say how many days she was in
Singapore before flying to the U.S.

Meanwhile, a special Jakarta police team has begun
investigating Zarina's case. Zarina is charged with possessing
29,677 Ecstasy pills at her Tangerang home.

Zarina, who was rearrested in Houston on Nov. 4 after hiding
there for three months, returned to Jakarta on Sunday to face the
police investigation she eluded four months ago.

"The questioning of Zarina should be finished as soon as
possible. The Jakarta Police have given top priority to the case
to be immediately handled and completed," City Police Chief Maj.
Gen. Hamami Nata said Monday.

Drug ring

He said Jakarta Police attached great importance to the need
to solve the case quickly because there were strong indications a
well-organized international drug ring was behind Zarina's
escape.

The police investigators could start working on the case only
on Monday because on Sunday Zarina was questioned by Soekarno-
Hatta airport's immigration officials on suspicion of using a
fake passport.

She also faced questions from the airport's customs and excise
officials for allegedly attempting to smuggle in a Bernett
crossbow and three arrows from the Netherlands, without the
necessary documents, two months before her widely publicized
arrest.

The Customs and Excise Department seized the crossbow and
arrows because they are classified as sharp weapons.

Hamami attributed the police's success in bringing Zarina home
to "a hard diplomatic struggle" on the part of the Indonesian
police officers dispatched to Houston.

Meanwhile, an immigration official, Iman Santoso said the
immigration office was examining the passport Zarina used to go
to the U.S.

"It was true that the passport was issued by the East Jakarta
Immigration Office, but we are still investigating whether it was
really the passport used by Zarina to leave Indonesia for the
U.S.," Iman said.

He said what enabled Zarina to escape to the U.S. was not
because immigration officials acted too late to ban her from
leaving, "but simply because there was confusion about her real
name. She claimed that her name was Zarima, but in her passport
it was Zarina."

The immigration office did not rule out the possibility of
corrupt immigration personnel being involved in issuing of the
passport. (bas)