A store clerk and his son have been charged with selling an illegal kratom product in Mississippi. This action by federal authorities follows the recent deaths of two University of Mississippi students, Aidan Hamilton and Robert Strang, in September.
Prosecutors announced the charges on Friday, 3 October 2026. A drug taskforce had previously advised people to avoid kratom after finding kratom derivatives during investigations into the students' deaths on 21 September. It remains unclear if these substances caused the deaths, though federal prosecutors noted both appear consistent with drug overdoses.
Bank records indicate that Aidan Hamilton made several purchases in September from a vape, tobacco, and beer store in Oxford, Mississippi. On 24 September, an informant bought kratom-based pills from the clerk, 51-year-old Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, who reportedly warned the informant about people dying from the pills.
Yahya Mosleh and his 18-year-old son, Islam Yahya Mosleh, were subsequently detained and charged with one count each of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) banned three kratom-related compounds in August, and one of these was listed as an ingredient in products seized from the Oxford store and Hamilton’s room.
While kratom is federally legal in the US, some state and local governments have banned it. Oxford, Mississippi, where the university is located, has implemented its own kratom ban, and Mississippi regulates it by requiring purchasers to be 21 or older.