A Czech model who was sentenced to eight years on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates will be freed next week following her acquittal by an appeals court, her lawyer said Friday.

According to the lawyer, Tereza Hluskova was acquitted by an appeals court earlier this week in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. Her attorney, Saiful Malook, said the now 24-year-old Hluskova will be released early next week after completion of paperwork. She was arrested in January 2018 in possession of 8.5 kilograms, or 19 pounds, of heroin at the Lahore airport from where she was heading to Ireland via the UAE. Her sentence also included an USD 800 fine.

At the time of the arrest and during her trial, Hluskova, who had come to Pakistan to work as a model, pleaded she was innocent and that someone else placed the narcotics in her luggage. Authorities in Pakistan regularly arrest both Pakistanis and foreigners over drug smuggling.

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