Daily Times

Czech model, Teresa Hluskova, was awarded an over eight-year sentence, on Wednesday, by an additional district and sessions court, over charges of smuggling heroin to United Arab Emirates (UAE), last year.

Additional district and sessions judge Shehzad Raza finally announced his verdict of imprisonment of eight years and eight months in addition to a fine of Rs 113,000; concluding the prolonged trial. Her companion, Shoaib, was freed over lack of evidence.

The deputy secretary of the Czech Republic Consulate was also present in the court when the decision was pronounced.

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

The 21-year-old Teresa, belonging to the Czech Republic, was taken into custody at Allama Iqbal International Airport in January 2018 when she attempted to smuggle nine kilogrammes of heroin worth Rs 150 million in the international market. The professional model was on a three-month family visit visa to Pakistan.

She had reportedly managed to pass two security checks when the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and Customs officials found the contraband.

Last April, the court had indicted her in the heroin case.

In the previous hearing, she had expressed worries over her increasing weight during custody. She said that during her one year sentence in jail, her weight had increased by 10 kilogrammes.

The model had said that the first thing she would do after going back to her country would be to join the gym. Teresa said that she missed her family. She was represented by her counsel, Asghar Dogar, in the case.

In March 2015, authorities acted on a tip-off and arrested Pakistani model Ayyan Ali at the VIP lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad on money laundering charges. She was due to board a flight to Dubai. It may be pertinent to mention here that Pakistani law restricts a citizen from carrying over $10,000 on a flight. However, Ayyan was found taking $506,800 in her luggage. Her lawyer had claimed that she did not intend to take this money outside Pakistan. She was released on bail in July 2016.

Published in Daily Times, March 21^st 2019.