Oxford Vape Shop Raid Seizes 500 Drug Units as Owner Faces 2022 Trafficking Indictment
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 28
Oxford Vape Shop Raid Seizes 500 Drug Units as Owner Faces 2022 Trafficking Indictment
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 28
Summary
Two men were arrested after last week's raid on Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store near Ole Miss, where police said they found 500 units of an illegal synthetic cannabinoid while probing two student deaths.
Court records show shop owner Amer Alowdi, 40, had already been indicted in 2022 on trafficking charges tied to hundreds of suspected cannabinoid cartridges and allegedly fled before formal prosecution.
Investigators said the earlier case began with controlled buys in 2020, then surveillance of Alowdi from an Oxford store to a Tupelo warehouse, where agents later seized vape products, suspected drug cartridges and boxes of Viagra during a traffic stop.
The raid also turned up packaged kratom, which is illegal in Lafayette County, adding to scrutiny of the supplement as authorities investigate the suspicious deaths of Ole Miss students Robert Strang, 20, and Aidan Hamilton, 18.
Alowdi's 2024 bid to dismiss the trafficking case was denied, and he could face up to 40 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.