LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday allowed an appeal of Czech fashion model Tereza Hluskova and acquitted her in a drug smuggling case.

The bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar announced a short order on the appeal of the foreign national.

A sessions court had on March 20, 2019, sentenced the model to eight years and eight months in jail for making an attempt to smuggle heroin from Lahore airport to Abu Dhabi in 2018. The trial judge also imposed a fine of Rs113,000 on the model.

The trial court had acquitted a co-suspect namely Shoaib for lack of evidence. Three other co-suspects of the case had been declared proclaimed offenders during the trial.

As per the prosecution, the 21-year-old Czech model was trying to smuggle 8.5kg heroin from Lahore airport to Abu Dhabi on Jan 10, 2018, but was intercepted by customs officials.

The prosecution presented nine witnesses against the model and other suspects.

The model’s counsel in the appeal argued that the conviction was beyond the merits of the case and without any concrete evidence against the appellant. He said the trial court solely relied upon the concocted story of the prosecution and ignored the facts of the case.

The counsel asked the high court to set aside the conviction and acquit her of the charges.

The model will be released from jail soon after the issuance of a detailed order by the high court.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2021