Zarina tried to bribe us, say police officers

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)