News Outlet first reported that Amer Alowdi, 40, was indicted in 2022 and left the country before he could face formal prosecution, according to court documents. Alowdi owns Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford.
Last week, investigators raided the business as part of an inquiry into the deaths of two Ole Miss students. Packaged kratom was found at the store; the substance is illegal in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
Robert Strang is shown in an undated family photograph. The 20-year-old University of Mississippi junior died under suspicious circumstances. (Strang family)
Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old University of Mississippi freshman, is shown in photos posted by his mother on Facebook. He was one of two Ole Miss students who died under suspicious circumstances last week. (Facebook/ Kathie Mac Donald Hamilton)
Authorities said the raid uncovered 500 units of the substance. Two men, Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, were arrested in connection with the bust.
The exterior of Puffs Vape store is shown Sept. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Mississippi. (Rashid Umar Abassi for News Outlet)
A Department of Homeland Security source told News Outlet that all three men charged were born in Yemen and later became naturalized U.S. citizens.
“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.
The interior of Puffs Vape store is shown Sept. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Mississippi. (Rashid Umar Abassi for News Outlet)
Even before the latest arrests, Alowdi had drawn the attention of narcotics investigators.
According to an incident report, agents visited a gas station in March 2020 and made two controlled purchases of cartridges they suspected contained an illegal synthetic cannabinoid.
The business was a Texaco station and convenience store on Lamar Boulevard in Oxford.
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Kratom is a plant-based substance often promoted as a natural remedy for pain or opioid withdrawal. Experts caution that it may cause dependence, dangerous interactions and other serious health problems. (Getty Images)
Documents identify the station as another business “owned and operated” by Alowdi.
Several weeks after the controlled purchases, agents followed Alowdi from his store to a warehouse in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he collected several boxes containing unknown items, according to the report. “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,” the report states.
At the Tupelo warehouse, investigators saw Alowdi and two other men load boxes into vehicles, including a “yellow Penske box truck.”
Agents followed Alowdi as he drove from Tupelo toward Oxford, then stopped him for allegedly speeding.
Alowdi consented to a vehicle search. Investigators seized vape products, cartridges they believed contained the illegal cannabinoid and boxes of Viagra, the report said.
Alowdi was not arrested that day because authorities were awaiting crime-lab testing of the seized products. Investigators warned him that he could be “facing more charges once the crime results came back.”
A general view of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house is shown on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, Sept. 24, 2026. Black ribbons adorn the porch columns in memory of fraternity member Robert Strang, a 20-year-old from Atlanta, who died under suspicious circumstances. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for News Outlet)
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.
If convicted, Alowdi could face 40 years behind bars and a $1 million fine.
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