Jair Bolsonaro has been taken into custody after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under domestic detention.
The former head of state was sentenced of plotting a government overthrow in September and handed more than 27 years in jail, but he continued under house arrest pending legal challenges.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice the presiding justice said the move to detain the septuagenarian politician was a safety action after recent developments emerged.
This encompassed trying to remove his ankle monitor and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could "allow for a chance to flee".
In a filing authorising the arrest, the magistrate said intelligence from the facility tracking his home detention suggested the ex-president's plan to remove the tracking monitor to secure accomplishment in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the confusion caused by the gathering called by his son.
His child, his son Flávio, who holds office as a legislator, called for a gathering of his supporters near his father's house to take place on Saturday evening.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on online platforms on the previous day: Do you plan to struggle for your country, or observe everything from your mobile device there on your sofa? I call on you to struggle with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could offer prayers for his well-being and for the return of democracy in our land."
Part of the magistrate's determination was the potential of his "relocation to foreign missions near the home, considering that the probes revealed a history of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a declaration said.
The legal document emphasizes that the US embassy in the federal district, the capital city, is situated around 8 miles from his dwelling.
The former president's legal troubles have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist United States President Donald Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being detained in a federal law enforcement building in Brazil's capital city and will experience a custody hearing on the following day.
It was only on last Friday that the his legal team asked the Supreme Court to allow him to serve his whole jail sentence under home confinement, with tracking devices.
They also requested that the former president be authorized to exit his dwelling for medical treatment, saying he required regular treatment for respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
He was determined responsible of orchestrating a scheme aimed at retaining his authority after he lost the national vote to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Top judicial officials said that he knew of a plan which included plans to assassinate his opponent and his VP candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, and to arrest and execute Justice Moraes - the top judicial official who has been overseeing the former president's case.
The plot was thwarted because it failed to get the backing of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without problem on January 1st, 2023.
But a seven days after, on January 8th, numerous his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the capital, the capital city.
The police stepped in and around fifteen hundred individuals were arrested.
The justices found that the protesters had been provoked by Bolsonaro whose strategy, they said, was for the country's army to step in, restore order and return him to office.
At the moment, his attorneys called the decades-long sentence extremely harsh.
He was also prohibited from seeking elected position until the year 2060 - a decade minus two years after the end of his sentence.
The former president called the trial a targeted investigation" and said it was aimed at blocking him running in the 2026 national vote.
