Ole Miss Deaths Linked to Troubled Shop

Two vape shop clerks in Oxford, Miss., have been jailed on federal drug charges tied to the deaths of two University of Mississippi students found with suspected kratom products. Court filings say 51-year-old Yahya Mohamed Mosleh and his 18-year-old son Islam Yahya Mosleh are charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, per Fox News. Both work at Puffs Vape Tobacco & Beer, less than a mile from campus, where 18-year-old student Aidan Hamilton allegedly made multiple purchases, including on the day before he died, ABC News reports.

Oxford Police say the possession, sale, and distribution of kratom has been banned within the city since 2019. Despite that, a police informant was allegedly able to buy kratom pills from the vape shop on Sept. 24, reporting that a clerk told him to be careful because "people were dying from them," according to an affidavit. Officers say they later seized 500 units of kratom worth $1,800 from the store, whose owner, Amer Alowdi, fled the country while facing drug trafficking charges in 2022. Another Ole Miss student, 20-year-old Robert Strang, who died separately on the same day as Hamilton, allegedly made purchases at gas station convenience store Express Mart #7. Officers also visited that location and purchased pills now undergoing analysis, per ABC.