French climber Alain Robert is being held by police after yesterday scaling the looming Petronas Towers in Malaysia without ropes.

Nicknamed ‘Spiderman’, the 47-year-old rock and urban climber is famous for scrambling up skyscrapers, including the Sydney Tower, Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.

Robert is currently being held by police after climbing the 88-storey, which was , designed by César Pelli, without safety equipment. On reaching the top at 7.30am local time, Robert unfurled a Malaysian flag.

It was the Frenchman's third attempt at climbing the Petronas towers, having been stopped by security in 1997 and 2007. During the G20 summit in London this year he climbed to the ninth floor of the Lloyd's building and opened a 30-metre banner declaring there were 100 months to save the planet.