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)