Zarina tried to bribe us, say police officers

JAKARTA (JP): Three police officers testified in court Monday that Zarina, charged with possession of Ecstasy, tried to bribe them as they confiscated a safe containing the drug from her house.

The three officers of the Tangerang Police precinct, 26 kilometers west of here, told the West Jakarta District Court they went to her house on the evening of Aug. 7 with a warrant to confiscate the Ecstasy and arrest her. Zarina, a budding TV actress, is also accused of producing and distributing the drug.

The witnesses, the first in the trial, said they found the safe and asked Zarina to open it but she refused and tried to bribe them instead.

"Please do not take the safe to your office, let's solve the problem amicably," the three witnesses quoted the defendant as saying.

They said Zarina first offered them Rp 5 million (US$2,075) and when they rejected it she increased the offer to Rp 30 million, but to no avail.

They said Zarina claimed they were too late because she had given the goods to someone else the previous day. She claimed the safe contained only 10,000 Ecstasy pills.

The officers confiscated the safe and took Zarina to the police precinct.

"On the way Zarina said there were only 4,000 pills in the safe. She offered me half, or if I could not sell, them she would give me Rp 40,000 a pill," officer Zainudin, head of the mobile detective unit, testified.

Another officer, Suparji, told the court Zarina made him the same offer while they were still at her house.

Zainudin told the court Zarina was driven to the precinct by three officers, and the safe was driven by another in a police jeep.

"At the precinct I handed over the safe to the detective unit," Zainudin said. He said he went home soon after that.

Zainudin said he found out the safe contained Ecstasy pills from newspapers the next day.

Meanwhile Hendarji, deputy chief of the Tangerang police detective unit, told the court that before the raid an informant had told him Zarina kept Ecstasy pills in a safe.

He said in the first round of questioning Zarina claimed the safe was not hers but her boyfriend Roy's. She refused to open it because she did not have the key, he said.

Zarina finally admitted to owning the safe but was only willing to open it in the presence of her parents.

"Later in the evening two people that she claimed were her relatives arrived, but the police found out one of them was only her would-be mother-in-law," Hendarji said.

Zarina opened the safe in front of them using a key from her pocket, he said.

Zarina, whose real name is Zarima Mir, consistently refuted the testimonies. She said she neither offered money to the police nor told them she had given 10,000 pills to someone else nor offered them 2,000 pills.

Under cross examination, Zarina, 25, said when the officers went to her house they showed only the warrant to raid her place.

"So I did not see a warrant for my arrest."

She said she was willing to go with them to the precinct because she was responsible for her friend's safe. "At first, they did not even want me to go with them," she said.

Zarina said the policemen did not take her directly to the precinct but drove around without any clear intention.

"They ordered me to open the safe so we could divide the pills among us," she retorted.

"I did not offer them money they asked me for it," she added.

Defense lawyers questioned the legality of the warrants because there were double warrants, one from Zainudin and the other from Hendarji.

They argued there was something wrong with the issuance of the warrants.

The hearing was adjourned until Thursday. (13)