Clerk and son charged over kratom products after two Ole Miss deaths

Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and son Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, each face one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Mississippi announced the charges Friday after linking a local vape, tobacco and beer store to kratom products found where two Ole Miss students died. Bodies were found Sept. 21, one on campus and one off campus. A drug task force urged people to avoid kratom after packages appeared at the scenes. A DEA informant on Sept. 24 bought kratom-based pills from Yahya Mosleh, who warned to "be careful taking the pills because people were dying from them," per an affidavit by Special Agent Michael Dassance. Mosleh pushed the pills out of sight when customers entered, then finished the sale. Authorities detained father and son, who was behind the counter, executed search warrants, and seized more than 500 units of suspected kratom derivatives. Bank records show Aidan Hamilton made multiple September store purchases. Smax packages with pills missing were in Hamilton's room; a Smax package from a different store was in Robert Strang's room. MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16 are Schedule I substances the U.S. Attorney's Office called "gas station heroin." The DEA banned three kratom-related compounds in August. Kratom remains legal federally, banned in 11 states, limited to buyers 21+ in Mississippi, and banned in Oxford and Lafayette County. The record leaves unresolved whether the products contributed to the deaths.