A young man, whose stock in a trade is to attend high-profile wedding ceremonies and allegedly bolt with large sums of money presented as gifts to the wedded couple, is in the grip of the police. Benjamin Essel, 19, was arrested by the police at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) where he had gone to execute his master craft at a wedding reception last Saturday. He is alleged to have escaped with more than GH¢10,000 in a similar operation at a wedding reception at Unique Flora in Accra last September. Some patrons of the Unique Flora reception, who happened to be at the AICC wedding reception, spotted Essel executing the same operation and quickly alerted the police for his arrest. Realising that his cup was full, Essel attempted to outwit the police and the gathering by pretending to be deaf and dumb but he did not succeed. Often wearing a neat suit and dressed in the colours of the wedding couple, Essel's modus operandi is to pose as a family member of either the bride or the groom and make sure he plays a very active role in the marriage ceremony and the reception thereafter in order to win the confidence of the gathering. Having succeeded in doing so, he moves round distributing envelopes to the guests who may wish to offer gifts in cash to the wedding couple. After collecting the envelopes, Essel then goes to the gifts table to inform the attendants that the parents of the bride or the groom have requested him (Essel) to collect the money so far received, after which he bolts with the booty. It is not clear how Essel manages to get accurate information on the venue, time and colours of wedding ceremonies to make a perfect appearance in such detail, but investigators at the Ministries Police Station where he is being held are trying to unravel all those mysteries. Last September, Essel was at a wedding ceremony at the Odorkor branch of the Apostolic Church, during which he played a leading role in almost every activity. He followed it up to the subsequent reception held at Unique Flora at Cantonments and allegedly disappeared with a huge amount of money in local and foreign currencies, as well as cheques, presented as gifts to the wedding couple. The only clue the wedding organisers had of his operation and identity was revealed in a video footage of the wedding ceremony, based on which they made a formal complaint at the Cantonments Police Station. Sources at the Ministries Police Station confirmed the arrest of the suspect but would not give further details because his caution statement was yet to be taken. One elderly man spotted at the police station told the Daily Graphic that he had gone to the station on hearing of Essel’s arrest because he (Essel) had carried out a similar operation at the wedding ceremony of his daughter some time in 2007. However, when he (Essel) was arrested and sent to the Airport Police Station, he was later released on the basis of his young age. A middle management staff member of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) also narrated a similar story about a group of young men who bolted with money collected at the wedding reception of a relative a couple of years ago.