PETALING JAYA: Newscaster Zalina Shaharah Azman, who has been missing for eight months, is being spotted in many places, but she remains missing.
The woman being seen in many places is a lookalike.
The doppelganger, a homeless woman, has been seen by an ehailing driver, at a hotel lobby and in a cafe in Shah Alam.
Despite the false alarms, Zalina’s close friend Datuk Ras Adiba Mohd Radzi is not giving up on the search and has been constantly posting on her social media, pleading to the public to help with the search.
“Not giving up on you,” wrote Ras Adiba in an Instagram post which had a photograph of Zalina.
“Anyone who has seen her, please contact the nearest police station or contact me on my messenger,” she posted.
In another post, Ras Adiba clarified that the viral image of a woman resembling Zalina is not the missing newscaster.
“I’ve taken a closer look and it is not Zalina,” she wrote.
An Instagram user had claimed on Ras Adiba’s comments section that she had driven a woman who looked like Zalina in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
The user, Nadhir Agito, an ehailing driver, claimed the woman approached her at 6.45am asking for help.
Nadhir said the woman appeared dazed and confused and initially asked to be taken to a police station.
“After that, she changed her mind and said she wanted to eat as she was hungry. She looked like she was shivering.
“I tried to take her picture but she refused to allow me,” said Nadhir, who also asked Ras Adiba to contact her for more information.
Zalina, 58, was reported missing by her son Mikhael Norman, 33, on Nov 29, 2021.
However, the matter only came to light recently.
Zalina previously hosted several talk shows, including Money Matters on TV3.
Meanwhile, police have released closed circuit television footage (CCTV) of the woman resembling Zalina who was spotted at a hotel in Shah Alam.
The woman was clad in all black as she entered the hotel’s lobby while carrying two bags.
The footage, filmed at around 1.35pm on Monday, showed the woman at the hotel’s counter, but no worker appeared at that time.
She then walked out and was seen removing her face mask at one point.
Shah Alam OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim said police had identified the woman as a homeless person.
He added that she was the same person seen at a cafe in Shah Alam.
