Court awards punishment to Czech model in heroin smuggling case

LAHORE: An additional district and sessions court on Wednesday awarded punishment to Czech Republic model Tereza Hluskova, who was arrested in a bid to smuggle heroin from Lahore to Dubai, last year.

The court had reserved the verdict into the case on March 12.

Additional district and sessions judge Shehzad Raza in his verdict, awarded eight years and 8 months imprisonment to Tereza and also  fined her for Rs 1, 13000, while her companion, Shoaib was freed over lack of evidence.

During the pronouncement of the decision in the case , the deputy secretary of the Czech Republic Consulate was also in attendance in the court.

Miss Hluskova was taken into custody on January 10, 2018, following her attempt to smuggle heroin from Lahore to Abu Dhabi – while on a three-month family visit visa to Pakistan.

Read more: Ayyan Ali declared proclaimed offender in currency smuggling case

The 21-year-old professional model from the Czech Republic was arrested at Allama Iqbal International Airport.

In March 2015 authorities, acting on a tip-off, arrested Pakistani model Ayyan Ali at the VIP lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad on money laundering charges before she could board a flight to Dubai.

It is pertinent to  that under Pakistani laws, a citizen is barred to carry over $10,000 on a flight. However, the authorities had found $506,800 tucked in her luggage.

She was released on bail in July 2016 and her lawyer claimed she had no intention to take money outside Pakistan.