He left the building of the steelworkers’ trade union in Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he spent the past two days, and got into a federal police car, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported Saturday.
Later, local media reported that Lula da Silva had been brought to the city of Curitiba by plane, where he would start serving his jail term over a corruption conviction.
From the airport, Lula was taken by helicopter to the federal police building, where a temporary ward had been prepared for him, the Globo broadcaster reported on Saturday.
Earlier, da Silva's defense team reportedly reached a tentative deal with the federal police so that he would not be taken to prison on Friday. The former president refused to surrender to police before the deadline expired.
The Brazilian top court this week voted six to five to reject the 72-year-old politician's earlier motion to stay out of prison while he appeals a bribery conviction.
The federal judge gave Lula until 5 p.m. Friday to turn himself in to the police, but the embattled former president said that he would stay put at a metalworkers’ union building, surrounded by his supporters.