Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said the owner of the car had parked it by the side of the road in Section 23 on Dec 18 at around 6pm to avoid the floods.

Two days later, however, he discovered that his car was mounted on a tow truck, driven by the suspect, and noticed that his number plates were broken and the road tax missing.

The car battery was also missing. The victim lodged a police report yesterday.

“The 26-year-old suspect will be remanded to facilitate investigations,” Arjunaidi said in a statement.

Yesterday, home minister Hamzah Zainudin said police would deploy personnel to flood-hit areas to prevent the theft of vehicles damaged by floods.

This follows reports on social media about vehicles stranded in the floods being stolen, including by people using tow trucks.