International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive Patrick Hickey has been sent to Brazil's Bangu maximum security prison on Friday while police investigate his involvement in a plot to illegally resell Olympic tickets, civil police said.

The elderly Irishman was arrested in his dressing gown during a dawn raid at his luxury beachfront hotel on Wednesday, where Hickey had been staying with his wife and fellow IOC members.

Police said they had discovered evidence linking Hickey to an international scheme to illegally pass tickets to touts who were reselling them at well above their original price.

GEOFF BURKE/USA TODAY SPORTS Pat Hickey was rushed to hospital after being arrested.

The 71-year-old, frightened by the raid according to a police chief, was first taken to Samaritano hospital after complaining of chest pain.

He stayed overnight before being released into police custody on Thursday and taken in a wheelchair to a police station for questioning.

READ MORE: Hickey arrested in ticket-scalping probe

Hickey was denied bail by a Brazilian judge and transferred to Bangu, a penitentiary complex which houses some of Brazil's most dangerous inmates.

Hickey has temporarily stepped aside from his IOC duties, including his post on the ruling executive board and heading the influential umbrella group for Europe's Olympic bodies.

He is facing charges of conspiracy, ticket scalping and ambush marketing after Brazilian authorities alleged he was part of a plot to make US$3 million (NZ$4.1 million) by illegally selling Rio Games tickets above face value.

Police said Ireland's Olympic body helped transfer tickets to an unauthorised vendor who would set high fees and disguise the transaction as a hospitality package.

The Olympic Council of Ireland said it will "cooperate fully" with any state inquiry at home into the ticketing scandal.

"The OCI will now also commission its own independent inquiry into the ticketing arrangements for Rio 2016," the Dublin-based organisation said. "The previously announced internal inquiry by the OCI has been discontinued."

Kevin James Mallon, from the British hospitality provider THG, was arrested in Rio last week. Authorities have also issued warrants for four more executives at the company.

Some Irish tickets for the Olympics' opening ceremony with a face value of $1400 were sold for $8000, police said.