Nawaz, Maryam taken into custody, en route to Islamabad

Lahore [Pakistan], July 13 (ANI): Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were on Friday taken into custody by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials after their flight landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport at 8:48 p.m. (local time).

Their passports were confiscated, and according to the Dawn, they were subsequently boarded onto a small chartered plane bound for Islamabad International Airport (IIA).

Convicted in an Avenfield reference case, the former Pakistan Prime Minister made his entry to the country amidst high drama.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam were surrounded by the NAB team, the moment Etihad Airlines flight EY 243 landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport of Lahore.

The father-daughter duo was formally arrested after the immigration.

They were surrounded by Airport Security Force commandos as they got down from the aircraft. Fellow passengers were asked to wait while the two were first taken to the cars waiting at the runway.

However, after some discussions with the Rangers, they walked down to the terminal. Inside the terminal, Sharif met his mother Shamim Akhtar and Shehbaz Sharif `s son Salman Sharif.

Media reports from Pakistan claim that the two-hour-20-minute flight delay helped in mobilizing the PML-N cadre waiting at the airport, as visuals of hundreds of them on the road appeared on Pak TV channels.

The father-daughter duo, who left for Pakistan from London on Thursday, earlier arrived at Abu Dhabi on Friday, where they had a six-hour lay-off. Sharif spoke to media over a telephonic conference, in which he urged people of Pakistan to stand up and fight for democracy.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam were convicted in an Avenfield reference case on July 6.

From that day, they have 10 days to appeal before the court against the order, which is till July 16.

While Sharif has been given 10 years of imprisonment, Maryam has been awarded eight years in jail. Sharif also has a fine of eight million pounds slapped on him in the Avenfield Reference case.

The case pertains to the purchase of Avenfield apartments through offshore companies, the beneficial owner of which was Maryam. Earlier, NAB sources in Islamabad said that both the convicted would be kept at Adiala jail for a day before being transferred to Attock Fort prison in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to media reports from Pakistan, a 16-member team of NAB, that included two women officers, was formed under the headship of Director Amjad Ali Aulakh, to arrest Sharif and Maryam.

The father-daughter duo was in London to meet Sharif's ailing wife Begum Kulsoom.

Maryam was sentenced to eight years of jail and fined two million pounds by the Accountability Court.

Earlier in April, Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz from contesting elections for the rest of his life because of his corruption cases as revealed in the Panama Papers. Sharif had stepped down as prime minister in July after the apex court's ruling. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI