Top Irish Olympic official Patrick Hickey has been arrested in Rio de Janeiro over a ticket scalping investigation.

Civil police went to his hotel in Barra de Tijuca to detain him, with Brazilian media reporting he was taken to hospital shortly afterwards after becoming unwell.

https://twitter.com/Uskeus/status/765981720000667648

Police said in a statement they had discovered evidence linking 71 year old Hickey, who heads the European Olympic Committee, to an international scheme to illegally pass Olympic tickets to touts who were reselling them at well above their original price.

Watch this YouTube video where Patrick Hickey says there is no need to strengthen anti-corruption measures at the IOC:

The investigation was part of a wider probe of tickets allocated to Ireland that were being sold for higher amounts.

More than a thousand tickets connected with the international sports hospitality company THG Sports have been seized.

Arrest warrant for Patrick Hickey was sigmed by judge yesterday. Says he needs to be kept in preventative custody pic.twitter.com/PGm1vd4LsJ

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) August 17, 2016

In a statement, the Olympic Council of Ireland confirmed the arrest and that Mr Hickey had taken ill.  The council says he will step aside temporarily as President of the OCI until the matter is fully resolved.

Online videos show police arriving at the hotel and Mr Hickey being taken away in a bathrobe – he was apparently in the bath at the time of his arrest.

Irish IOC member Patrick Hickey presented the medals at the women’s over 78kg judo on day seven of the Rio Olympics. Photo: Getty/David Finch

His arrest comes after police last week detained a director of THG Sports, Kevin Mallon, and a translator employed by the company, alleging that they could have made 10 million reais ($4.07 million) from buying tickets and reselling them at a higher price.

A Brazilian judge on Monday also ordered the arrest of four more THG Sports executives on accusations of fraudulent ticket sales at the Olympics.

– with agencies