Hickey is reportedly facing three charges: facilitating ticket touting, forming a cartel and “ambush” or illicit marketing.
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The maximum sentence he can receive is seven years.
Pat Hickey hides from photographers in the back of a police auto after leaving Insituto de Criminalista Carlos Eboli Endereco Police Station in Rio de Janeiro.
The issue is also threatening to become embarrassing for the IOC, as journalists at the daily briefings in Rio have repeatedly asked for more details on how tickets are allocated to national Olympic committees, what rules are in place to regulate their sale and what possible punishments the IOC would consider for breaches of those rules.
While police said they had reason to believe he was trying to escape, a video apparently of the arrest on the ESPN Brazil sports news website shows Mr Hickey answering the door naked to officers.
International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said: “It makes it look like all sports administrators are corrupt”.
Acting OCI boss Willie O’Brien has said the sporting body will defend itself “to the hilt” in the wake of his former boss’s arrest.
“What I can tell you is that it involves 1,000 of the six million tickets”.
The head of the European Olympic Committees Patrick Hickey has been arrested in Rio over allegedly passing on tickets to the Games to be sold on for extortionate prices.
“In view of his previous cardiac history he will remain in hospital for a further 24 hours”, the Irish committee said in a statement Wednesday night.
He was joined in the station by OCI general secretary Dermot Heneghan and team doctor David Feekan.
“We are already taking legal advice on how we deal with these unfounded allegations”.
Hickey had previously said that there was “no impropriety whatsoever from anyone in the OCI or myself in the dealing of tickets”.
Security outside the Hospital Samaritano in Rio de Janeiro.
There was no indication from authorities how long Hickey will be held.
Brazilian reporter Jamil Chade tweeted that his credentials for the hotel where Hickey was staying had been revoked by the IOC.
He was arrested in one of the “Olympic Family” hotels in Barra da Tijuca early Wednesday morning, as the ticket-selling scandal engulfing his organisation continues.
He is also a member of the Olympic Solidarity Committee and worked on the co-ordination of this year’s Games in Rio as part of his work with the IOC.
“As far as we know we haven’t had any details what the charges [are]”, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.
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Update 12.30pm: Speaking from Rio, Sports Minister Shane Ross has confirmed that he was aware of the arrest, that he liaising with the Irish embassy and that he is monitoring events. Sylviane is listed as co-director for Mr Hickey’s insurance business.
