An employee at an Oxford vape shop told a confidential informant to keep quiet about kratom pills the store was selling because “people were dying from them,” according to court records filed after two University of Mississippi students died within an hour of each other on Sept. 21.
Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, were both found dead that day with similar packages of kratom or synthetic kratom nearby, the court documents show. Investigators said Hamilton “could have died due to a Pulmonary Edema,” a condition consistent with a drug overdose. Strang was found “cold to the touch” when first responders arrived at his house near campus.
The packages found near both men were labeled “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets, described in the court documents as a kratom-like substance sold at gas stations and tobacco shops for its “narcotic like effect.”
Store Employees Charged
Records show Hamilton made several purchases in September at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford, including one the day before he was found dead. Officials did not say in the court documents that the kratom found near him at the time of death came from that store.
Two workers at the shop, Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, have been arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
According to the court records, a confidential informant went into the store and asked whether it sold “7 O Kratom based pills.” A clerk said yes, opened a drawer beneath the register, and produced a package of kratom.
Mosleh allegedly told the informant to “be quiet” about the pills and warned they should be careful taking them because “people were dying from them.”
Investigators seized more than 500 units of kratom from the store along with THC cartridges, gummies, pre-rolls and other suspected THC products.
What Happened to Hamilton and Strang
Hamilton’s roommate told officers that Hamilton often smoked marijuana but that he was not known to use hard drugs.
About an hour after Hamilton was found dead, police were called to a house near campus where they found Strang dead. A package of the “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets was on his nightstand alongside 20 to 30 cans of nitrous oxide, known as “whippets,” which Strang’s roommates said he used daily. Roommates said Strang had been watching football and took a Xanax bar the day before he was found.
Officials said the synthetic kratom-derived product Strang had bought came from a gas station roughly 30 minutes outside Oxford, not from the Puffs Vape store tied to Hamilton’s purchases.
Authorities have not determined what role, if any, kratom played in either student’s death.
