Most-wanted US fugitive Vincent Legrend Walters arrested in Cancun, Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Vincent Legrend Walters – one of America’s most wanted fugitives who had been on the run from police for 24 years – was finally caught Friday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun selling time-share vacation packages to tourists.

Walters, who has been accused of murder, kidnapping and drug dealing stemming from a 1998 case in San Diego, California, had worked at Cancun International Airport right under the nose of authorities for 10 years, the Associated Press reported, citing an unidentified airport official.

The 45-year-old, who was living under the name of Oscar Rivera, was on the US Marshals Service’s list of 15 most wanted fugitives.

“We were under the impression that he left with a good amount of money and thought he would have stayed in the illegal drug trade,” Steve Jurman, a spokesman for the Marshals Service, was quoted by the New York Times saying.

“Now it appears that he had to work for a living.”

Walters was taken to Mexico City on Friday where he will await extradition to the United States, NBC News reported.

According to the New York Times, Walters had been involved in a dispute with other drug dealers over supplies of methamphetamines. 

He allegedly killed a woman in a botched kidnapping aimed at retrieving a cache of drugs.

The following year a federal grand jury indicted the Mexican-born Walters on conspiracy to manufacture, possess and distribute crystal methamphetamine, carrying firearms during a drug trafficking crime and possession of unregistered firearms and explosives.

More from GlobalPost: Mexico newspaper El Mañana stops covering violence after second grenade attack