HYDERABAD, Feb 3 Latifabad police have arrested a young man lacking the ability to speak, dumb, for committing a robbery using a fake pistol at the house of custom department employee in Dec 2008 in the limits of the B-section police station.

According to a brief issued by Hyderabad DPO Ghulam Nabi Memon, the man has been identified as Mohammad Naqash, a resident of Unit-5 Latifabad.

The B-section police had arrested Naqash in connection with a Dec 30, 2008 robbery. Sporting a mask, he had barged into the house of Moeen Ahmed and held the inmates of the house hostage at gunpoint and looted jewellery, mobile phones and Rs4,000. However, while trying to escape the scene of crime through the house's rooftop, he left behind the looted goods. Police claimed that he had previously been involved in some theft cases as well.

The B-section police arrested him and had to seek help of someone who knew the sign language to extract statement from Naqash.

The accused, a tailor by profession, had himself stitched the mask he had used during the robbery. He confessed of having committed the crime using an artificial pistol.