diff --git a/deb/publish.go b/deb/publish.go
index 9ff78bd6a..59d722aa8 100644
--- a/deb/publish.go
+++ b/deb/publish.go
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ func ParsePrefix(param string) (storage, prefix string) {
 	} else {
 		prefix = param
 	}
+	prefix = strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(prefix, "/"), "/")
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/system/t06_publish/PublishDrop7Test_gold b/system/t06_publish/PublishDrop7Test_gold
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3758e105
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/t06_publish/PublishDrop7Test_gold
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Removing ${HOME}/.aptly/public/ppa/smira/dists...
+Removing ${HOME}/.aptly/public/ppa/smira/pool...
+
+Published repository has been removed successfully.
diff --git a/system/t06_publish/drop.py b/system/t06_publish/drop.py
index 31e656c40..8660df10e 100644
--- a/system/t06_publish/drop.py
+++ b/system/t06_publish/drop.py
@@ -122,3 +122,24 @@ class PublishDrop6Test(BaseTest):
     """
     runCmd = "aptly publish drop sq1"
     expectedCode = 1
+
+
+class PublishDrop7Test(BaseTest):
+    """
+    publish drop: under prefix with trailing & leading slashes
+    """
+    fixtureDB = True
+    fixturePool = True
+    fixtureCmds = [
+        "aptly snapshot create snap1 from mirror gnuplot-maverick",
+        "aptly publish snapshot -keyring=${files}/aptly.pub -secret-keyring=${files}/aptly.sec snap1 ppa/smira/",
+    ]
+    runCmd = "aptly publish drop maverick /ppa/smira/"
+    gold_processor = BaseTest.expand_environ
+
+    def check(self):
+        super(PublishDrop7Test, self).check()
+
+        self.check_not_exists('public/ppa/smira/dists/')
+        self.check_not_exists('public/ppa/smira/pool/')
+        self.check_exists('public/ppa/smira/')