Dive Brief:

• With a tip and a torch, Houston police intercepted a major drug shipment by stopping a flatbed truck hauling a Caterpillar excavator that had been driven in from Mexico on Monday night.
• The cops were tipped off that drugs were on the equipment and, after they had firefighters cut open the arm of the shovel with a torch, they found 600 pounds of marijuana and 13 kilograms of methamphetamine.
• Police estimated that the drugs altogether were worth about $690,000 on the street.

Dive Insight:

Police did not disclose who owned the excavator or where it was headed in the country. The driver was being questioned, but police did not say whether any charges had been filed.