Lahore court sentences Czech model to 8 years, 8 months in jail for smuggling narcotics

Published March 20, 2019
Czech model Tereza Hluskova weeps after the court decision to sentence her to eight years and eight months in prison for attempted heroin smuggling, in Lahore on March 20, 2019. —AFP
Czech model Tereza Hluskova weeps after the court decision to sentence her to eight years and eight months in prison for attempted heroin smuggling, in Lahore on March 20, 2019. —AFP

A Lahore Sessions Court on Wednesday sentenced a Czech woman arrested last year on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi to eight years and eight months in jail.

The trial in the case had been completed on January 9; today, Additional Sessions Judge Shahzad Raza issued the verdict against 21-year-old Tereza Hluskova.

Since her arrest on January 10, 2018 Hluskova has told investigators that she came to Pakistan to work as a model, but someone put eight and a half kilogrammes of narcotics into her luggage as she was returning.

She was arrested as she tried to board a flight for Abu Dhabi.

Czech diplomats had provided her legal assistance.

Pakistani authorities often make arrests of both Pakistanis and foreigners for transporting narcotics.

Over the course of her trial, nine witnesses had recorded their statements against the accused.

Earlier this year, in January, a foreign PhD student was taken into custody by customs staff after narcotics were found in his luggage during check-in at the new Islamabad International Airport.

Customs staff recovered 325 grams of cocaine disguised as sweets and arrested the student Ifenaye Junior Aloja, who is a PhD student in a private university of Islamabad. He was moved to Customs Headquarters for legal proceedings.

Opinion

Editorial

Privatisation divide
Updated 14 May, 2024

Privatisation divide

How this disagreement within the government will sit with the IMF is anybody’s guess.
AJK protests
14 May, 2024

AJK protests

SINCE last week, Azad Jammu & Kashmir has been roiled by protests, fuelled principally by a disconnect between...
Guns and guards
14 May, 2024

Guns and guards

THERE are some flawed aspects to our society that we must start to fix at the grassroots level. One of these is the...
Spending restrictions
Updated 13 May, 2024

Spending restrictions

The country's "recovery" in recent months remains fragile and any shock at this point can mean a relapse.
Climate authority
13 May, 2024

Climate authority

WITH the authorities dragging their feet for seven years on the establishment of a Climate Change Authority and...
Vending organs
13 May, 2024

Vending organs

IN these cash-strapped times, black marketers in the organ trade are returning to rake it in by harvesting the ...