$2.3 million in cocaine seized in Columbus drug bust. Father and son arrested
Nineteen packages of cocaine were atop a table in the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office as Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman and Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly addressed a news conference Thursday morning about a drug bust Wednesday in Columbus.
The mounds — which amount to 42 pounds of cocaine — are worth an estimated $2.3 million, one of the largest cocaine busts in Muscogee County history, according to Kelly.
The sheriff’s department arrested Jose Tamez III and his son Jose Tamez IV on charges of trafficking cocaine.
Kelly said the defendants are charged at the top of the sentencing structure in Georgia for trafficking cocaine, which requires a minimum of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
The case will have a probable cause hearing Friday morning in the Muscogee County Magistrate Court. Kelly said because the state sentences for trafficking cocaine are as stringent as federal sentences, the case will likely remain in state court as opposed to transferring to the federal system.
The sheriff’s office collaborative intelligence group worked as the sole agency in the drug bust, Countryman said.
The case is still under investigation. Countryman said more charges relating to the case may follow.
Countryman and Kelly spoke about the violence and pain caused by drugs like cocaine and fentanyl being distributed in local communities.
“Those who traffic and sell drugs don’t care about the lives they ruin,” Countryman said. “They don’t care about how selling this poison tears the fiber that holds marriages and families together. It’s all about quick money.”
Countryman said a cocaine bust of this size is indicative of a larger drug trafficking problem in Muscogee County.
“This is in our county,” Countryman said. “There is much more in our county, and we are going to go after every individual with the intention of disrupting and taking away the damage that they’ve done to families.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 11:36 AM.