Grand jury indicts trucker in massive cocaine seizure

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 | 4:28 p.m.

A trucker recently arrested in one of the largest drug seizures in Nevada history — 452 pounds of cocaine — was indicted Friday on drug trafficking charges by a Clark County grand jury.

Gaston Danjou, 51, was charged by the grand jury with one count of trafficking in controlled substances and one count of transporting a controlled substance in connection with his arrest Aug. 10 on Interstate 15 near the Jean exit in Southern Nevada.

His arraignment in Clark County District Court will be at 9 a.m. Aug. 25 before Judge Kathleen Delaney. Danjou is in the Clark County Detention Center. His bail was set at $1 million.

According to officials, the truck had left the central valley of California and was en route to the Midwest. It was unclear how Danjou obtained the cocaine, but investigators believe he was working for someone else because of the amount found on the truck.

"It would be safe to say that 452 pounds would be connected to a larger organization," Las Vegas police Lt. Laz Chavez said.

Danjou was driving when a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper observed him swerve into an adjacent traffic lane three times. Under questioning, he appeared suspiciously nervous, the trooper wrote in an arrest report. The truck driver, who was transporting construction materials on a flatbed for a private company, said he was from Québec and was the owner of the truck.

"He appeared to be more nervous than any normal person would be if they were being contacted by a police officer for a traffic violation," the trooper surmised.

When Danjou allowed officials to search the truck, they found the cocaine in 10 duffel bags in the truck’s sleeper area. They estimated the street value of the 452 pounds of cocaine to be $16.4 million.