After their arrest they boarded a small, chartered plane bound for Islamabad.
Lahore: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam were arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials on Friday night upon their return to the country after their conviction in one of the three corruption cases against the powerful political family, less than two weeks before the country goes to polls.
The plane carrying Nawaz, the supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), and Maryam landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal Airport at 9:15 local time, nearly three hours late from the scheduled arrival.
After their arrest they boarded a small, chartered plane bound for Islamabad.
According to media reports, dozens of security officials entered Etihad Airways flight EY243 from Abu Dhabi plane after it landed in Lahore and asked other passengers to leave. The duo's passports were seized and their immigration formalities completed on board the plane. Later they were permitted to meet Begum Shamim Akhtar, Sharif's mother, in the airport's Haj Lounge.
Later, father and daughter duo were transferred to an Islamabad guest house which turned into a subjail. The Islamabad chief commissioner issued a notification declaring Sihala Police Training College Rest House in Islamabad "as sub-jail for keeping the convicted prisoner Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, ex-Prime Minister, and Ms Mariam Nawaz, who have been arrested by NAB authorities, with immediate effect and till further orders."
Nawaz, 68, and Maryam, 44, were convicted by an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference last Friday and handed jail sentences of 10 years and seven years, respectively. The former was found guilty of owning assets beyond known income, while his daughter was convicted for aiding and abetting her father in covering up a "conspiracy".
After the verdict was announced, Nawaz and Maryam had said they would return to Pakistan and appeal against the decision.
Nawaz and his party have accused the military of being behind his conviction, saying it is going after the PML-N for its criticism of the security establishment.
While many have wondered why Nawaz and Maryam returned to Pakistan to go behind bars, reports in Pakistani newspapers suggest that for several weeks the former Prime Minister and his close confidantes met in London to think their strategy through.
Party sources have been quoted as saying that the PML-N's rank and file is united to put up a fight.
In an interview published just two days before his return, Nawaz revealed why he has been so combative recently and why he does not accept the soft line of reconciliation suggested by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif.
"The policy of restraint did not bring any positive results. When I said that we will have to take concrete measures and set our own house in order to make the world trust our seriousness, a new game plan was launched, branding my ideas as Dawn leaks," Sharif said as he packed his bags for a one-way ticket home.
Party veterans believe that in the post-election scenario, their narrative will dominate, no matter what the results are. "With Nawaz and Maryam in Rawalpindi, the Parliament will be rocking. Even if we are thrown out of the government, we shall dominate both houses of the Parliament. It will be our time, baby!" says a PML-N senator.
Around 10,000 police officers were deployed in Lahore to maintain law and order.
Nawaz's PML-N party, led by its president Shehbaz, managed to take out a rally despite imposition of Section 144 that bars assembly of more than five people.
PML-N workers joined in the rally from different points in Lahore. Talking to reporters before reaching the airport, Shehbaz said "a sea of people" has turned up today to give historic reception to Nawaz.
"The people of Lahore has given a verdict ahead of July 25 polls," he declared. "I am thankful to the people of Lahore for coming out in such a huge number," he said, adding that the people have rejected the decision of the court to convict Sharif and Maryam.
Earlier, speaking to the BBC at Abu Dhabi airport as he waited to change planes, Nawaz said: "What credibility will these elections have when the government is taking such drastic action against our people and this crackdown is taking place all over the country?"
Nawaz, who has been one of the country's leading politicians for most of the past 30 years, was disqualified by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case. Despite that he remains popular, especially in Punjab, the most populous and electorally significant province.