Authorities along the Texas-Mexico border sure did have a busy week
Over $1 million worth of alleged marijuana stashed in a shipment of jalapeño peppers.
An abandoned tunnel underneath a neighborhood close to downtown El Paso.
There's been more than enough activity this week along the Texas-Mexico line to bring border-wall hawks' blood to a steady boil.
First, on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 5,000 pounds of what officer believed to be marijuana. It came in on a tractor trailer hauling the spicy green fruit of one plant to hide the sticky green flowers of several thousand pot plants, according to a CBP news release.
The 18-wheeler was trying to cross into Texas at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo. A digital imaging check and a canine inspection led officers to the 1,341 packages of pot. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $1,000,182, according to the release.
On Thursday, in two more seizures in the area, border patrol agents nabbed nearly 145 pounds of bundled weed that had been abandoned in some brush in Hebbronville, and almost 300 more pounds when they pulled over two cars in Laredo. Three arrests were made in the second Laredo bust, and the combined value of the nine bundles of pot from those sweeps was estimated to be $350,320.
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If you're counting at home, that's more than 5,438 pounds of marijuana seized, for a combined street value of $1,350,502. But wait, there's more.
In between all that activity, about 600 miles to the northwest, Texas Department of Transportation officials reported a cave-in while working on the roads near El Paso's Chihuahuita neighborhood.
That cave-in was caused by the presence of an abandoned subterranean tunnel, according to another CPB news release.
The Chihuahuita neighborhood sits just north of the Rio Grande.
CPB said the intended purpose of the tunnel, which originated from north of the international border, is unknown. So is the length of time it had been left abandoned.
Matthew Martinez: 817-390-7667; @MCTinez817
This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Authorities along the Texas-Mexico border sure did have a busy week."