Vape store clerks face federal drug charges after tracing purchases made by deceased Ole Miss students

OXFORD, Miss. – Two employees at an Oxford, Mississippi, vaping store face federal drug charges after investigators say they traced purchases made by two University of Mississippi students before their deaths, according to detailed court documents.

Yahya Mohamed Mosleh and Islam Yahya Mosleh are each charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, documents state.

According to a DEA affidavit, bank records linked Aidan Hamilton to purchases at Puffs Vape Tobacco & Beer and Robert Strang to Express Mart #7 before investigators found similar suspected kratom products at both death scenes.

Authorities also described clandestine purchases and the seizure of more than 500 products suspected to be related to kratom at the Oxford vape store.

In a statement released Wednesday, Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, a department of the sheriff’s office, did not say that investigators found kratom itself near either student.

“During investigations, packaging associated with kratom-related products was discovered at both locations,” part of the release states.

The Sept. 25 affidavit said toxicology results from the medical examiner were still pending.

Mac Haddow, senior public policy fellow for the American Kratom Association, said at a news conference Wednesday that the specific drug found near the two students was illegal.

Haddow pointed out that the sale and possession of kratom has been illegal federally since August and illegal to sell or possess in Oxford, Mississippi since 2019, and illegal in Lafayette County, where Oxford is located, since 2021.

The affidavit dated Sept. 25 says investigators were still awaiting toxicology results from the medical examiner at the time.

The charges come as authorities await toxicology results in the deaths of Ole Miss students Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20.

Both students were found dead with similar packages of synthetic kratom in their possession, according to court documents.

The Moslehs are not charged in either death.

The packaging of the kratom items found near the two men was labeled “Smax, Pseudo-DHM,” which is a “Kratom-like substance at gas stations or tobacco stores” that people buy for their “narcotic effect,” according to court documents.

In September, Hamilton made several purchases at the Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford, where employees Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, were arrested Friday for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, officials said.

Court documents did not establish that the kratom found near Hamilton at the time of his death came from that store.

One of these purchases occurred the day before Hamilton was found dead.

According to court records, a confidential law enforcement informant went to a Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer store and asked if the store sold “7 O Kratom pills.”

A store employee replied “yes,” then opened a drawer under the register and took out a packet of kratom.

Mosleh allegedly told the informant to “shut up” about the pills and to take them carefully because “people were dying from them.”

More than 500 units of kratom were seized from the vape store, along with THC cartridges, gummies, pre-rolls and other suspected THC substances.