Brazilian police on Wednesday, August 17 arrested top International Olympic Committee member Patrick Hickey over illegal sales of Rio Olympics tickets, AFP reports.

Police said in a statement that Hickey, the 71-year-old head of the European Olympic Committees as well as the Irish national committee, was detained at a luxury Rio hotel.

According to Brazilian media, Hickey tried to escape during the operation.

The reports said he fell ill during his arrest and was taken to hospital.

City police acted to "carry out an arrest warrant and search warrant against Patrick Joseph Hickey, from Ireland, a member of the International Olympic Committee," police said in a statement.

"He was arrested," a spokesman confirmed.

Hickey has been a member of the IOC executive board since 2012. As head of the European body he has been instrumental in setting up the European Games which was first held in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year.

The arrest -- with echoes of a police raid on a FIFA hotel in Zurich last year in which seven officials were held on corruption charges -- will come as a blow to the IOC which has made anti-corruption efforts a priority since a bribery scandal around the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, AFP says.

Six IOC members were expelled after the scandal.

An IOC spokeswoman said: "We are still in the process of establishing the facts" and made no further comment.

The Olympic Committee of Ireland would only say that it was "seeking total clarity on the situation before we comment further."