A truck driver is awaiting sentencing in Clark County for charges of drug trafficking. The man was driving a flatbed vehicle and was alleged to be driving erratically, leading police officers in southern Nevada to pull the man over. Police claim that the man was behaving suspiciously, but allowed the officer to search the car with a drug dog. Law enforcement official claim that 170 bricks of cocaine were found in a compartment hidden within the sleeper area of the truck.

The value of the cocaine is estimated to be upwards of $16.4 million dollars making this one of the largest cocaine bust in Nevada history. The 52-year old man is being charged with trafficking of cocaine as well as trafficking of a controlled substance. The French-Canadian man is originally from Quebec, and does not speak English, so his lawyer also acts as an interpreter for him.

The man has been in jail since his arrest. He faces sentencing soon and has pled guilty to trafficking of a controlled substance, a charge that was amended at the request of his attorney. It is not clear how the man came to be in possession of the cocaine, but police believe that he was in business with someone as a transporter. The large amount of drugs found in the sleeping compartment of the truck is more in line with large scale drug trafficking than a smaller, individually run operation. Investigation is still underway into who the man got the cocaine from.

Las Vegas Sun, "Sentencing set for trucker hauling $16.4 million of cocaine into Nevada," Dave Toplikar, Jan. 16, 2012