LAHORE: The jailed model of Czech Republic, Tereza Hluskova, has challenged her conviction in the drug smuggling case before the Lahore High Court.

A sessions court had sentenced her to eight years and eight months in jail for making an attempt to smuggle heroin from Lahore airport to Abu Dhabi last year.

The appeal against the sentence filed through a counsel states that the trial court handed down the conviction beyond merits of the case and without any concrete evidence against the appellant.

It pleads that the trial court solely relied upon the concocted story of the prosecution and ignored the facts of the case. The appellant asked the high court to set aside the conviction and acquit her of the charges.

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

The trial court had acquitted co-suspect Shoaib Hafeez Khan for lack of evidence and declared three other co-suspects proclaimed offenders.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2019