Judge finds probable cause in kratom case against Oxford vape clerks

A judge found probable cause on Oct. 1 for federal drug charges against two clerks at an Oxford, Mississippi, vape store that police searched after two University of Mississippi students were found dead last month, WMC Action News 5 reported. Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, are each charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, according to court documents reported by Fox News Digital.

Neither man is accused in the deaths of Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, who were found dead on Sept. 21 about an hour apart. Their causes of death have not been confirmed.

A Drug Enforcement Administration affidavit says bank records tied Hamilton to purchases at Puffs Vape Tobacco & Beer in Oxford and Strang to an Express Mart #7 before investigators recovered similar suspected kratom products at both death scenes, Fox News Digital reported. The affidavit also describes undercover purchases and the seizure of more than 500 suspected kratom-related products from the Oxford shop.

What the federal charge covers

Yahya Mosleh and Islam Mosleh appeared in federal court on Oct. 1, according to WMC Action News 5. Both had been arrested the previous Friday, Sept. 25, and charged under state law with possession of Schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute after agents executed a search warrant at the store, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported. Court records and officials have listed the younger man as both Islam Yahya Mosleh and Islam Mohamed.

Court documents did not establish that the kratom found near Hamilton when he died came from Puffs, Fox News Digital reported. Before the federal charges, Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell told Fox News Digital that the arrests at the store were not believed to be connected to the two students' deaths.

I don't think there's a direct relation to this particular case.

Tindell, who spoke on Sept. 28, said the autopsies on Strang and Hamilton were complete and that the state medical examiner was writing the toxicology report, which would be shared with the Lafayette County coroner. He said the case would bring enhanced efforts in and around Oxford aimed at anyone trying to sell those products or others that would be unlawful.

Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed that the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation were working with local officials to speed up the autopsies of the two students, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported.

Inside the store on Sept. 24

The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics unit sent a confidential informant into Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store on Sept. 24 to make a controlled purchase, according to the arrest affidavit. The informant, carrying audio and video equipment, went in to buy nitrous oxide and kratom. A clerk said he had no nitrous oxide and offered marijuana from a jar of pre-rolled joints. The informant did not buy it and left.

He returned moments later and asked whether the store sold kratom-based pills. The clerk said yes, retrieved a key, opened a drawer beneath the register and placed a package of kratom on the counter, court records say. The informant said that was what he wanted, and the clerk set out several more packages.

Puffs sits near the University of Mississippi campus. The storefront was closed on Sept. 30, with a handwritten sticky note on the front door reading "closed perm," WMC Action News 5 reported.

A warning at the counter

The clerk warned the buyer about what he was selling. When the informant asked whether the store carried "7-OH Kratom-based pills," the clerk said yes, then told him to "be careful taking the pills, because people are dying from them," according to the arrest affidavit reported by WMC Action News 5.

A filing in Lafayette County Circuit Court lays out what happened next, as other shoppers came through the door, according to SuperTalk Mississippi News.

Other customers entered the store, and Yahya Mohamed Mosleh then told the informant to be quiet about the pills. Mosleh then pushed the package of pills out of sight. The informant walked away until the group of customers left. The informant walked back to the counter and handed the clerk $100.00. Mosleh placed the pills in a black plastic bag, tied the bag closed, and told the informant to be careful with the pills.

Oxford police executed a search warrant at Puffs after the controlled purchase and seized more than 500 units of kratom and kratom-like products, along with THC cartridges, gummies, pre-rolls and other suspected THC substances, WMC Action News 5 reported. The two clerks were arrested and charged.

Two students found dead on Sept. 21

Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Colorado, was found dead at Stewart Hall on the Oxford campus, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported. The coroner and medical personnel at the scene said he could have died due to a pulmonary edema, consistent with a drug overdose, court documents say. A package of Smax Pseudo-DHM tablets, a synthetic kratom-derived product, was found on his dresser. His roommate told officers that Hamilton often smoked marijuana but that he did not know him to use hard drugs.

Officers were dispatched an hour later to a house near campus and found Strang, a 20-year-old from Atlanta, dead. First responders described him as cold to the touch. A package of the same tablets was on his nightstand, next to 20 to 30 cans of nitrous oxide, known as whippets, which his roommates said he used daily. They told officers he had watched football and taken a Xanax bar the day before he was found.

Bank records show Hamilton bought Smax at Puffs on Sept. 9, Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, and that Strang bought the product at an Express Mart on Sept. 9 and Sept. 11, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported. Hamilton's last purchase came the day before he was found dead. Strang bought his at a gas station in Water Valley, about 30 minutes from Oxford.

The vape shop owner indicted in 2022

Amer Alowdi, 40, who owns Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford, was indicted in 2022 and fled the country before he could face formal prosecution, according to documents reported by Fox News Digital. He is also a person of interest in the current case, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported. Alowdi filed in 2024 to have his charges dismissed and the motion was denied. If convicted, he could face 40 years behind bars and a $1 million fine.

Narcotics investigators had been tracking Alowdi before the recent arrests. An incident report says agents made two controlled purchases in March 2020 of cartridges they believed contained an illegal synthetic cannabinoid at a Texaco station on Lamar Boulevard in Oxford, another business the documents say he owned and operated. Weeks later, agents followed him from his store to a warehouse in Tupelo, stopped his vehicle on the way back and, with his consent, seized vape products and cartridges. He was not arrested that day, pending crime-lab testing.

Kratom bans and the Smax tablets

The product at the center of the case is labeled "Smax, Pseudo-DHM" tablets. Court documents describe it as a "Kratom like substance at gas stations or tobacco shops" that buyers want for the "narcotic like effect." SuperTalk Mississippi News described the product as a chewable, concentrated tablet sold as a synthetic kratom-like substance.

Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, a department in the sheriff's office, stopped short in a statement on Sept. 30 of saying investigators had found kratom itself near either student, Fox News Digital reported.

During the investigations, packaging associated with kratom-related products was discovered at both locations

Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy at the American Kratom Association, said at a press conference on Sept. 30 that the specific drug found near both students is illegal. The DEA temporarily placed the synthetic compounds in such products on Schedule I in August; kratom itself is not federally controlled. Kratom has been illegal to sell or possess in Oxford since 2019 and in Lafayette County since 2021.

• Sept. 9, 14 and 20: bank records show Hamilton bought Smax tablets at Puffs.
• Sept. 9 and 11: records show Strang bought the product at an Express Mart.
• Sept. 21: Hamilton and Strang are found dead about an hour apart.
• Sept. 24: an informant buys kratom pills at Puffs in a controlled purchase.
• Sept. 25: agents search the store, seize more than 500 units of kratom and arrest two clerks.
• Oct. 1: a judge finds probable cause for federal charges against both men.

Authorities also bought similar products at the Water Valley gas station, and the items purchased at both locations are being tested for controlled substances, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported. Metro Narcotics says both cases remain under investigation. Anyone struggling with substance use can call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

The Sept. 25 affidavit said toxicology results from the medical examiner were still pending. It remains undetermined what role kratom played in the deaths of Hamilton and Strang, and neither Yahya Mohamed Mosleh nor Islam Yahya Mosleh is accused in either death.