French authorities have seized a plane belonging to the family of ousted Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, official sources said.

Tha aircraft was seized at Le Bourget airport near Paris, where it had been parked in a hangar for a week, the sources said. It belongs to the Mabrouk family, one of whose members is Ben Ali's son-in-law

The move came a day after Europe's foreign ministers froze the assets of Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi in response to a request from the Tunisian authorities.

Tunisia's former leading couple and their inner circle are suspected of having pocketed much of the country's wealth over years and of taking personal stakes in much of the economy.