Brazilian police searched the home of powerful ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and detained him for questioning Friday as part of a corruption probe, officials said.

Police searched his house in Sao Paulo, the Lula Institute, and houses of family members, Jose Chrispiniano, a spokesman for Lula and his institute, told AFP.

The federal police also issued a statement confirming earlier media reports of this dramatic development in Brazil's huge corruption probe, dubbed Operation Car Wash and centered around the state-owned oil company Petrobras.