Smuggling suspect knew of frigid cold before Indian family’s death on Canada border, prosecutors say

AP

Minneapolis, March 27

A man accused of helping smuggle people across the US-Canadian border had been warned of blizzard conditions before he arranged for four members of an Indian family to cross in 2022, prosecutors allege.

The parents and two young children froze to death.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, who prosecutors say went by the alias ‘Dirty Harry’, is due in federal court in Minnesota on Wednesday on seven counts of human smuggling.

The man he allegedly hired to drive the Indian nationals from the Canadian border to Chicago also faces four counts, according to a new indictment unsealed last week.

The alleged driver, Steve Shand, of Deltona in Florida, was arrested and charged with human smuggling two years ago. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free. Proceedings in his case have been put on hold several times.

In a recent court document, an agent with the US Department of Homeland Security said Patel has been refused a US visa at least five times -- four times at US consulates in India and once at the US consulate in Ottawa in Canada. He is in the US illegally, the agent said.

Patel’s name didn’t emerge until he was arrested in Chicago last month on a previously sealed warrant issued last September. Defence attorney Thomas Leinenweber said in an email that Patel will plead not guilty on Wednesday. He didn’t elaborate.

Unsealed court papers connect Patel with a human trafficking group based in Gujarat. The group allegedly would get Indian nationals into Canada on student visas, then move them on to Chicago.

The migrants would work for substandard wages at Indian restaurants while they paid off debt to the smugglers, according to the court documents.

Prosecutors allege Shand was driving a rented 15-passenger van when it was stopped by the US Border Patrol in Minnesota just south of the Canadian border on January 19, 2022.      

Inside the van were two Indians from Gujarat who had entered the US illegally, while five others were spotted walking nearby. According to court documents, they told officers they’d been walking for more than 11 hours in temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit (-34 Celsius).

One person was hospitalised with severe cold-related injuries.

A man with the group told authorities he paid the equivalent of about USD 87,000 to get smuggled into the US. He also had a backpack that contained children’s clothes and a diaper, but there were no children in the group.

The man told authorities he was carrying the items for a family of four with a small child, all of whom had separated from his group during the night. Later that day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found the four dead, just 10 metres from the border near Emerson in Manitoba.

According to a series of messages sent via WhatsApp, Shand told Patel, “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions please.” Patel replied, “Done.” Then Shand remarked, “We not losing any money.”     

The victims were identified as Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, 34; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son Dharmik, all from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat. It’s not clear if they were related to the defendant because Patel is a common name in India.

Jagdish Patel and his wife were educated and had worked as teachers, but sought a better life in the US, relatives have said.

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