When a missing cellphone does not ring, chances are it has been stolen.

But on Saturday, Mamelodi East, Pretoria, police arrested a man they dubbed “the dumbest criminal” when his alleged stolen cellphone rang in his own pocket.

A police investigator had decided to dial the cellphone number as the “robbery victim” left the police station. The 25-year-old man had gone to the police station to report that his cellphone had been stolen in a robbery.

The man had claimed that the robbers had taken his cellphone. But after he had reported the “theft”, the investigator dialled the number, after which the cellphone rang.

Police spokesman Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the detective who took the statement acted on impulse and called the man’s number which he got from the statement.

“The phone then rang from the man’s pocket, and when he was questioned about that, he said he gave a wrong number to the police.”

The man could not explain why the serial number on his cellphone matched that of the alleged stolen cellphone.

Opperman said the man was then arrested .

He said after the arrest, the man was so shocked he just kept quiet.

“He refused to talk to us about anything after his arrest.”

He appeared in court on Monday and his case was postponed to January 14.

He was remanded in custody.