Jones County Sheriff's Department Cracks Down on Major Drug Dealers

HATTIESBURG, MISS. - "It was one-hundred-forty-eight kilos of cocaine that we seized here in Jones County and about three-hundred-twenty-eight pounds, which is a lot of cocaine in one stop. The street value could be upwards of nine million dollars," Jones County Sheriff, Alex Hodge said. Jones County's Sheriff's Department is cracking down hard on a major drug trafficking organization. The sheriff's department emphasized that these drug dealers "were not your nickel and dime drug dealers," but they were a step above. Recently, Jones County's Sheriff Department made four major drug bust in an attempt to clean drugs off the street. "Well, I just say we identified here four significant cases that were unrelated that resulted in a number of arrests," Sheriff Hodge said. "It also resulted in a large number of various drugs being ceased and taken off the streets here in Jones County." Nov. 15, Jones County's Sheriff's Department arrested Jermaine Antonio "Tony" Newell following a traffic stop when authorities found an estimated amount of nine-hundred thousand dollars in drugs, including heroin, marijuana, and ecstasy. The sheriff's department also made three other major drug busts. One bust dates back to Oct. 24, and two more this week, which happened on Nov. 28 and 29. This brings the total to ten major drug traffickers that have been arrested in the Pine Belt in the last month or so. The sheriff's department believes the recovered items from the bust is over ten million dollars. Sheriff Hodge says this is an on-going investigation and there's still more work to do, but he has one message for anyone dealing drugs in Jones County. "Yeah, we're coming... we're coming for you. We probably already have your name on a warrant." Sheriff Hodge said.