The Supreme Court of Pakistan has dismissed an appeal by Pakistan Customs to stop the Czech model, Tereza Hluskova, from leaving the country.
On Wednesday, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, heard Customs’ plea to add Hluskova’s name to the ‘stop list’ for her involvement in a heroin smuggling case although she had been acquitted by the Lahore High Court (LHC) due to insufficient evidence against her.
After hearing the petition, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, asked if Customs had sent the samples of heroin that were recovered from Hluskova to the lab according to the law.
Its lawyer replied that “the trial court had declared the dispatch of the samples lawful,” and requested the court to once again bar the model from traveling abroad.
“The accused is destined to fly out to the Czech Republic on 23 April,” he highlighted.
Justice Ahsan stated that “the name of the accused can be added to the ‘stop list’ only if the case has substantial grounds,” and quashed the Customs’ plea.
The apex court also upheld the high court’s ruling for Hluskova’s acquittal.
It had temporarily barred Hluskova from traveling abroad on Tuesday after a petition by Pakistan Customs to prevent her from traveling abroad while facing a drug smuggling case.
Its counsel had stated that she has a flight booked for 23 April, and pleaded to the court to prevent her from leaving the country as a review petition on the High Court’s decision was pending with the top court.
Hluskova was initially arrested at Lahore Airport on 10 January 2018 for attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi. The trial had continued for over a year and she was sentenced to eight years and eight months in jail by a sessions court in April 2019.
However, the court had acquitted her last November and she was released from prison in the same month.
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The model should be grateful to Pakistani authorities to have arrested her prior to her arrival in the UAE, because if she was caught with drugs there, she would have been served the death penalty.