Trial date set for man accused of trucking $16.4 million in cocaine through Nevada

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 | 12:35 p.m.

A truck driver arrested for hauling a large stash of cocaine — 452 pounds — earlier this month into Southern Nevada will go before a Clark County District Court jury in October.

Gaston Danjou, 51, who has been charged with trafficking in cocaine and transporting a controlled substance, will have a jury trial starting at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 17 before Judge Kathleen Delaney.

Danjou was indicted by a grand jury after being arrested Aug. 10 near the Jean exit on Interstate 15 by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who got suspicious at the way the trucker was driving erratically. The trooper said he swerved 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 said.

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

Danjou, who pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment Tuesday, is in Clark County Detention Center on $1 million bail.