Nine members of the the ultra-orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor who left the country amid child custody proceedings have now been returned to Canada.

Peel Police Sgt. Dave Housdon said the Lev Tahor members landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Saturday night and six children were placed in the care of the Children's Aid Society.

Housdon said three adults were processed by the Canada Border Services Agency.

Early last week, an Ontario judge issued an emergency order that 13 Lev Tahor children be placed in the care of children's aid but police said Thursday that most of the children had left the country.

The nine returned yesterday were stopped en route in Trinidad and Tobago.

About 200 members of the sect — 114 of them children — settled in Chatham, Ont., last year after suddenly uprooting from Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec.

Child-welfare authorities in Quebec spent a year investigating issues related to hygiene, health, and allegations that the children weren't learning according to the provincial curriculum.

Late last year, a Quebec court ordered that 13 Lev Tahor children be placed in foster care.

The group has denied all allegations of mistreatment.

with files from CBC News