A father and son have been arrested for selling packages of kratom tied to the overdose deaths of two University of Mississippi students, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District announced Friday.
Store clerk Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, each face federal charges of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute.
On Sept. 21, an Ole Miss student was found dead in his dorm room. An hour later in a separate location, another student was found dead. At both scenes, law enforcement found packages of suspected kratom derivatives, and some tablets were missing.
Investigators used bank records to trace purchase of some of the kratom derivatives to an Oxford vape, tobacco and beer store, according to court records. An informant spoke to the elder Mosleh, the store clerk, who sold them kratom pills and warned them to be careful with them, according to the criminal complaint.
Law enforcement executed several search warrants, resulting in the seizure of kratom substances from the store and the arrest of Mosleh and his son, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office.
The victims were identified in court records as Aidan Hamilton, 18, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, 20, a junior from Atlanta.
Hamilton enjoyed the outdoors, hiking and climbing and skiing and will be remembered as someone who was caring, loving and upbeat, according to his obituary. Hamilton is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister.
Strang was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Ole Miss who will be remembered for the joy he brought others and a strong sense of fairness, according to his obituary. He is survived by parents, a twin sister, a younger brother, other family members and his two dogs.
A day after the students’ deaths, local law enforcement confirmed it was investigating their deaths and advised people to avoid kratom.
Kratom is plant-based and, in its natural form, is considered a stimulant in low doses and an opiate-like sedative in higher doses, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Derivatives of kratom are Schedule I controlled substances because they are more potent and associated with a high risk of addiction, overdose and even death.
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the extract.
However, kratom is sold in many gas stations across the country, including Mississippi, to those over the age of 21. Lafayette County is one of 30 counties and cities in the state that have restricted or banned the sale of kratom. It can also be purchased over the internet.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department and the Oxford and University of Mississippi police departments are investigating the case with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
