Shop clerk, son charged with selling illegal kratom amid probe into Ole Miss student deaths, tell me about this news today

Federal prosecutors in Mississippi have charged a local store clerk and his son with selling illegal kratom products following an investigation into the recent deaths of two University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) students.

CBS News

Key details regarding the case:

• The Investigation: Authorities launched a probe after two Ole Miss studentsfreshman Walker Hamilton and junior Robert Strangwere found dead in separate on-campus and off-campus locations. In both rooms, investigators discovered opened packages of a commercial kratom product labeled “Smax”.

  CBS News+ 1

• The Charges: Federal law enforcement linked the packages to a local vape and tobacco store in Oxford, Mississippi, where clerk Yahya Mosleh and his son worked. Both were arrested and charged after an undercover operation and subsequent store searches uncovered banned substances. According to court records, one of the kratom derivatives found was among three synthetic or concentrated kratom compounds federally banned by the DEA earlier this year.

  MyNorthwest.com+ 1

• Local Laws: While natural kratom remains regulated at the state level in Mississippi (restricted to buyers 21 and older), the city of Oxford and Lafayette County enforce local bans prohibiting its sale entirely.

  ITVX

• Cause of Death: Federal prosecutors noted that the students’ deaths appeared consistent with drug overdoses, though toxicology tests and official autopsies have not yet definitively established whether the kratom product directly caused or contributed to the fatalities.

  MyNorthwest.com