Federal court records obtained by News Outlet indicate that the same three substances were detected in the blood of two University of Mississippi students who recently died.
Toxicology findings cited in the filing show that Ole Miss freshmen Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, had mitragynine as well as the Schedule 1 controlled substances MGM-15 and MGPI in their systems.
The information was disclosed before officials released the students’ complete toxicology reports to the public.
According to the court filing, all three compounds are ingredients in Smax Mango Breeze pills. Investigators said Hamilton and Strang possessed the products when they died in Oxford on Sept. 21.
Robert Strang and Aidan Hamilton in a split image provided by their families. (Strang family, Kathleen Hamilton/Facebook)
“During the investigations, packaging associated with kratom-related products was discovered at both locations,” Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said in a statement issued in September.
Investigators specifically reported finding Smax Mango Breeze MGM-15 packages at both locations. The products carried $39.99 price stickers, with a black mark obscuring part of the number 9.
Authorities arrested Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and his 18-year-old son, Islam Mohamed Mosleh, as part of a narcotics investigation involving Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford.
The father and son now face federal drug charges. Court records say investigators linked purchases made by Hamilton and Strang to the tobacco shop before the students’ deaths.
A package of Smax Pseudo-DHM tablets, a synthetic kratom-derived product, that authorities say was found near Aidan Hamilton when paramedics arrived. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi)
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Court documents state that investigators later conducted a controlled purchase from Yahya Mosleh. Authorities allege he sold them a product kept inside a locked container—an item the filing described as having been prohibited by local ordinance for more than four years.
Agents then secured a search warrant for the store. Inside, they said they found Smax Mango Breeze MGM-15 products with matching packaging, ingredients and $39.99 price labels, including the same mark on the number 9.
Laboratory analysis determined that the products contained the Schedule 1 substances MGM-15 and MGPI. The filing also says bank records showed Strang and Hamilton each made a purchase at Puffs on the same day.
“There is also probable cause to believe these drugs caused two overdose deaths in Oxford, Mississippi,” prosecutors wrote. The government argued that the substances taken by the students were the same type of products seized from the Moslehs’ store during the court-authorized search.
The shocking deaths of two Ole Miss students have reverberated across campus. (Kelsie Cairns/News Outlet)
The filing further states that Yahya Mosleh sold the products to a confidential informant after Hamilton and Strang died. During the transaction, he allegedly cautioned the informant that people had died after using similar products.
“As the purchase was being made, Yahya Mosleh even told the informant that people were dying from similar products and to be careful,” the documents say. He allegedly tried to hide the transaction when other customers entered the store and completed the sale only after they left.
A federal judge ordered Yahya Mosleh to remain jailed until trial, describing him as a flight risk because of his connections to another country, according to the court records.
Islam Mosleh is set to be released on a $20,000 unsecured bond. His conditions include a curfew and electronic location monitoring.
The owner of Puffs was previously indicted by a Lafayette County, Mississippi, state grand jury on allegations involving the distribution of a controlled substance. Court records say he later fled, and investigators believe he now operates the business remotely from Egypt.
News Outlet contacted the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi for comment.
