One of the most-wanted criminals in México state was caught red-handed doing a low-level drug deal in Mexico City on Tuesday.

According to the city’s Public Security Secretariat (SSC), Israel “El Bucanas” Molina Monroy was spotted by police while exchanging drugs for cash with another man in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo.

“. . . two men were observed leaning against a blue Nissan Sentra that was the object of an investigation exchanging several bags . . . with green vegetable material inside for cash,” said the SSC in a statement.

When the officers approached the men and identified themselves they attempted unsuccessfully to flee in the vehicle.

The seller, who was found to be in possession of 39 plastic bags of what police suspect to be marijuana, was later identified as 39-year-old Molina, a former police officer in the México state municipality of Tultitlán.

He was wanted for the April 2018 murders of state homicide chief José Luis Mendoza Espinoza and his partner Orlando López Arrendondo. He was also wanted in connection with an incident where a body was abandoned near the Barrientos Jail in Tlanepantla last Thursday, with a message signed by the organized crime group La Unión de Tepito.

In December, the state attorney general published a most-wanted list of 47 people, which included Molina, offering a reward of 300,000 pesos  (US $15,000) for information leading to his arrest.

His nickname is more than likely derived from a fondness for Buchanan’s whisky, but lost a couple of letters in translation.

Molina is not to be confused with Roberto de los Santos de Jesús, a suspected gangster in Puebla who shares the same nickname.

Source: Infobae (sp), El Universal (sp)