Kit Roberts
Quarrels with neighbors can be extremely difficult, but one family claim they made a horrible discovery after their neighbor complained about noise.
Umar Abdullah and his wife, who was pregnant at the time, moved into their condo in Tampa in June 2022 to a warm welcome from other residents.
However, the pair soon began receiving texts from a downstairs neighbor Xuming Li, who was complaining that he could hear the toilet seat being moved and was losing sleep.
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The neighbors had quarrelled for months. Then Abdullah and his wife said they noticed that they had started to feel dizzy and nauseous in their flat, as well as vomiting.
Abdullah told WFLA: “I look at my daughter. Her eyes were full of tears. She was not crying, but her eyes were full of tears."
The first person to twig that something may not have been right was a friend of the couple. He had been going round to retrieve a parcel for the family while they were away on holiday.
However, he said when he returned to the flat he could smell something. He described the odour as being 'obnoxious'.
They called up the air conditioning company, but they didn't find that anything was wrong with the unit. So he called up a plumber to check the water heater, but again there weren't any issues there.
The landlord even replaced the heater and had the air ducts and vents cleaned. But the 'obnoxious' smell was still there.
Abdullah called the fire department, but their tests revealed nothing either.
Despite everything he persisted, and installed a camera outside the flat's front door.
Abdullah has since claimed that footage from he camera shows Li filling a syringe with liquid and injecting it under the front door.
He told WFLA: “We were shaking. We can’t imagine that he is coming and doing something.”
The family immediately got out of the flat and called the police. A hazmat test subsequently revealed the substance to be a combination of methadone and hydrocodone, which are both prescribed opioid pain medications.
Li has since been arrested by Tampa Police in connection with a number of felony charges. These include possession of a controlled substance. He is also facing a lawsuit from Abdullah for domestic violence, and the condo for breach of contract.
Li was listed as a PhD student in chemistry at the University of Southern Florida, though the university has confirmed that he was not listed after the summer term ended in 2023.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.