Nov 20, 2021: The Czech foreign minister said the Czech model, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison in 2019 for drug trafficking in Pakistan, was released on Saturday after being acquitted this month.

Teresa Hluskova, 25, was arrested in January 2018 at the Lahore airport on charges of smuggling nine kilograms of heroin. Footage released by Pakistani customs officials showed authorities exposing drugs hidden in her suitcase as she tried to board a flight to the United Arab Emirates.

Hluskova, who insisted someone had put the drugs in her suitcase, was sentenced in March 2019 to eight years and eight months in prison and fined.

But an appeals court acquitted her on November 1 because “the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt”, according to her lawyer, Saif al-Muluk.

Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanik tweeted, “Czech citizen released from Pakistani prison today.” “Our embassy will now assist her in arranging the return to the Czech Republic,” he added.

Pakistan has a long insecure border with Afghanistan. Drug trafficking is a serious crime in Pakistan and arrests at airports are not uncommon. The South Asian nation is part of the drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan to Central Asia, Europe and North America.

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