A 35-year-old male suspect has been arrested in connection with the brazen armed robbery of a woman in her car in Geylang Bahru on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement on Wednesday night, police said the suspect was performing general contractual work in a building at Scotts Road when he was arrested by a team of officers at about 3.25pm yesterday. He was found with the victim's ATM cards and credit card, and cash comprising S$22 and US$1 (S$1.25), said the police.

Officers were later led to a unit along Geylang Bahru where a wrist watch, believed to belong to the victim, was also recovered, added the police.

At about 4.15pm on Sunday, the 33-year-old female victim was alone in her car and about to drive off from an open-air carpark when she was confronted by a man wielding a penknife. After the suspect took the wheel and drove the car to the upper deck of a multi-storey car park, he demanded for the woman's valuables which included a smartphone, a wrist watch valued at about $2,000, ATM cards, a credit card as well as $200 and US$200 in cash.

Fearing for her safety, the woman told him the personal identification numbers to her ATM cards when he ordered her to do so, added police.

The man then tied her up using adhesive tape and fled, taking her valuables with him.

The woman later freed herself, drove out from the carpark and called the police using a mobile phone from a passer-by.

Police officers commenced a massive manhunt for the suspect, which was later extended islandwide.

A breakthrough came when officers detected a man fitting the culprit's description while reviewing closed-circuit television footage recorded on Sunday.

If convicted, the suspect may be jailed up to 10 years and be liable to caning of not less than 12 strokes.