Rio Olympics 2016: Australian athletes arrested in Rio

The Australian Olympic team enter Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony. Photo / AP

Several Australian Olympic athletes are being questioned at a Rio police station for alleged accreditation tampering after being arrested at the basketball semi-finals tonight.

News Corp can reveal that up to nine athletes from at least three different sports are being questioned by police in Rio for allegedly tampering with their accreditation passes and were detained at the event.

Australian Olympic Committee lawyer Fiona de Jong is currently with the athletes talking to police as they're being questioned.

The IOC and Rio police have launched a crackdown on accreditations in the wake of the Ryan Lochte incident earlier this week.

Australian team media boss Mike Tancred confirmed police were talking to nine Australian athletes over the matter.

"Some people tried to tamper with their accreditation," Tancred said. "They've got stopped by people over at the stadium.

"It's really a matter for the IOC as they're in charge of accreditations. If you tamper with accreditations it is their problem.

"We're over there with the lawyer."