Czech model to walk free as LHC sets aside conviction in drug case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday set aside a Czech model’s conviction in a heroin smuggling case and ordered her release from prison.

Tereza Hluskova was sentenced to eight years and eight months in jail by a sessions court in April 2019. She was arrested at Lahore airport for attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi on January 10, 2018.

A two-judge bench of the high court, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, allowed Hluskova’s appeal against the trial court’s verdict, acquitting her in the case.

Her counsel stated before the court that the Czech woman was implicated in the drug smuggling case. At the time of her arrest, the legal procedure was ignored, he argued, adding the trial court handed her imprisonment of eight years in utter disregard for the facts.

The lawyer pleaded with the court to exonerate Czech model from all charges.

The woman had told investigators that she came to Pakistan to work as a model but someone slid narcotics into her luggage. According to a case registered against her, 8.5 kilogramme of heroin was seized from her possession.