Four members of deposed Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharief were on Tuesday detained shortly after they flew in to Lahore from their exile in Saudi Arabia, a private television channel reported in Islamabad.

Sabiha Abbas, wife of Sharief's younger brother Abbas Sharief, her two daughters and a son, arrived in Lahore on a flight from Jeddah.

Geo News said they were taken into custody and shifted to an unknown destination soon after their arrival. There was, however, no official confirmation of the report.

Sharief, who was deposed by President Pervez Musharraf in a military coup in 1999, has been exiled to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia along with his family members by the military regime after a terrorist court convicted him on corruption and terrorism charges.

Officials of the Musharraf government said that Sharief and his family members were not eligible to return home for ten years. But Sharief's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) denied it and said they could return after three years.

The Shariefs who lived in Jeddah under the close watch of the Saudi government, were not allowed to contest the general elections held in October last year after the nomination papers of the former premier, his brother Shahbaz and wife Kulsum were rejected.

In the absence of Sharief, the PML-N performed poorly, winning only 17 seats in the 342 member National Assembly.