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Former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz will be arrested upon arrival at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport and handed over to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials, a well-placed source told DawnNewsTV on Tuesday.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, which was attended by the provincial chief secretary, the inspector general of police Punjab, the NAB director general Lahore, director general of the Federal Investigation Agency and Islamabad's chief commissioner.
It was decided that Nawaz and Maryam would be flown to Islamabad on a helicopter following their arrest.
The officials present at the meeting decided that if the security situation in the capital is conducive, the father-daughter duo may be produced before an accountability court the same day. If security is uncertain, a judicial remand may be sought while Nawaz and Maryam are held at Rawalpindi's Adiala jail, where Captain Safdar is also currently imprisoned.
The officials also considered seeking assistance from Rangers to maintain law and order, the source said.
The duo, currently in London, is scheduled to return to Pakistan on July 13, a week after an accountability court sentenced them to serve jail time in the Avenfield corruption reference. The two were also slapped with fines of 8 million pounds sterling (for Nawaz) and 2 million pounds (for Maryam).
After the accountability court announced its verdict in the Avenfield corruption reference on Friday, NAB had obtained arrest warrants for Nawaz and Maryam.
The federal Law and Information Minister Ali Zafar had said that the two would be arrested immediately upon their arrival at any airport in the country "if they do not get bail before landing in Pakistan".
Speaking to reporters in London, Nawaz said that he and his daughter would land in Lahore and decide their future strategy once they arrive in Pakistan.
NAB officials had also arrested Nawaz's son-in-law, retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, in Rawalpindi and sent him to jail on Monday. He had also been sentenced by the accountability court to one year in prison on charges of abetment in the Avenfield reference.
