Vape store arrests near Ole Miss campus not believed to be linked to two student deaths, state official says
FIRST ON FOX: OXFORD, Miss. – Court documents uncovered by Fox News Digital reveal the owner of a vape shop near the Ole Miss campus was previously indicted for trafficking hundreds of doses of an illegal synthetic cannabinoid.
Fox News Digital first reported Amer Alowdi, 40, was indicted in 2022 and fled the country before he could face formal prosecution documents allege. He owns the Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford.
Last week, law enforcement raided his shop following investigations into the deaths of two Ole Miss students where packaged kratom – which is illegal in Lafayette County, Mississippi – was found.
Robert Strang pictured in an undated family photo. The 20-year-old University of Mississippi junior died under suspicious circumstances. (Strang family)
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Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old University of Mississippi freshman, appears in these images that his mother posted to Facebook. He is one of two Ole Miss students who died under suspicious circumstances last week. (Facebook/ Kathie Mac Donald Hamilton)
Police said they discovered 500 units of the drug and arrested two men in connection to the bust, Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18.
General view of Puffs Vape store, September 25, 2026, in Oxford, Mississippi. (Rashid Umar Abassi for Fox News Digital)
All three men charged were born in Yemen, a Department of Homeland Security source told Fox News Digital. They are all naturalized citizens.
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"Yahya Mohammed Ali Mosleh entered the U.S. in 1992, Alowdi entered the U.S. in 2014 and Islam Yahya Mohamed Mosleh entered the U.S. in Feb. 2024," the source said.
Interior view of Puffs Vape store, Sept. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Mississippi. (Rashid Umar Abassi for Fox News Digital)
Prior to the recent arrests, Alowdi had been on the radar of narcotics investigators.
An incident report says agents visited a gas station and made two controlled purchases of cartridges they believed contained an illegal synthetic cannabinoid in March of 2020.
The gas station is a Texaco station with a convenience store on Lamar Boulevard – also in Oxford.
Kratom is a plant-based substance often marketed as a natural option for pain relief or opioid withdrawal, but experts warn that it can cause dependence, dangerous interactions and other serious health complications. (Getty Images)
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It is another business "owned and operated" by the suspect, documents say.
A few weeks after agents made these purchases, "On March 20, 2020 two agents from the Lafayette County Metro Narcotics Unit followed Mr. Alowdi from his store to a warehouse in Tupelo, Mississippi where Mr. Alowdi picked up several boxes containing unknown items."
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At the Tupelo warehouse, agents witnessed Alowdi and two other men loading boxes into vehicles, including a "yellow Penske box truck."
Read the motion to dismiss:
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Agents followed Alowdi's vehicle as it headed from the Tupelo warehouse back toward Oxford and pulled him over for allegedly speeding.
With consent, they searched his vehicle and seized various vape products, cartridges believed to contain the illegal cannabinoid, and boxes of Viagra, the report said.
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Police did not arrest Alowdi that day, pending crime-lab testing of the seized products. They did warn him he could be "facing more charges once the crime results came back."
General view of Phi Delta Theta fraternity house on the Campus of the University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, September 24, 2026. Black ribbons are tied to the columns of the porch in honor of the death of fraternity member, 20-year-old Robert Strang from Atlanta. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
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The report also says investigators suspected Alowdi had ties to other stores in Mississippi.
In 2024, Alowdi filed to have his charges dismissed, but the motion was denied.
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If convicted, Alowdi could face 40 years behind bars and a $1 million fine.
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Adam Sabes is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.
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