An international team has been deployed to Brazil to assist with security measures during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Interpol says its Major Events Support Team (IMEST) includes counter-terrorism experts.

In addition to the nearly 11,000 athletes, some 500,000 tourists will be among the six million ticket holders attending events.

Interpol says the IMEST will be based at the International Police Cooperation Centre in Brasilia, and have direct access to several databases.

It will also be able to exchange urgent messages and police data from all 190 member countries - such as fingerprints, images and wanted persons notices.

The team will facilitate checks on individuals against global databases - in addition to data on more than 7,700 foreign terrorist fighters.

"With the potential for criminals attempting to enter Brazil using falsified, stolen or lost passports to conceal their identity, officials at land, sea and airports throughout the country have access to some 60 million documents in Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database to perform instant checks of visitors’ passports," the group says.

Brazil is conducting an average of one million checks against Interpol databases for false documents and wanted persons every day.

"Security at an event such as this is a global responsibility requiring close cooperation between law enforcement entities worldwide," said Andrei Rodrigues, secretary for major events at the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.

"Because Interpol is the only police organisation that provides access to criminal data from 190 countries, Brazil has made sure that its global databases and specialized teams are an integral part of the security arrangements for the Olympic Games."