A Minnesota jury in the United States on Friday found Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29 and Steve Shand, 50, guilty for their involvement in an international human smuggling operation that led to the deaths of an Indian family who froze while attempting to cross the US-Canada border during a blizzard in 2022.
Shand, a resident of Florida and Patel, an Indian national who went by the name “Dirty Harry,” were convicted on four charges, including conspiring to unlawfully transport migrants into the US. The scheme, according to the prosecution, was part of an expanding network that facilitates illegal immigration from India.
“This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling, where profit is valued over humanity,” said US Attorney Andy Luger of Minnesota, who condemned the scheme. “A father, mother and two children lost their lives in sub-zero temperatures because of this greed.”
After a five-day trial, the verdict was announced on Friday.
Gujarat Family’s Tragic Death
On January 19, 2022, Canadian police discovered the bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben, in her mid-30s, their three-year-old son Dharmik and their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi, close to Emerson town in Manitoba province.
The family, who were part of a larger group of 11 undocumented migrants from India, were originally from Dingucha village in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar area. It was stated that they had paid smugglers to help them enter the US illegally.
According to federal authorities, Shand served as a driver and Patel oversaw the smuggling operation. Only seven of the 11 Indian migrants Shand was supposed to pick up on the Minnesota side of the border made it through the dangerous journey.
Patel and Shand were involved in an “organised, sophisticated international operation” that enabled illegal Indian immigration to the US “by dangerous means,” according to the prosecution’s indictment report in the Minnesota court. The accused deliberately assisted the “aliens” who had entered the country unlawfully “for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.”
According to a court official, Patel and Shand were both represented by separate lawyers. Patel’s defence counsel told the court that it was a “case of mistaken identity” since his client was not the “Dirty Harry” the police were searching for, despite Shand’s lawyers’ claims that Shand was tricked into the scheme by Patel and “was unaware of the trafficking.”
Prosecutors, however, presented proof linking both to the smuggling scheme. Shand’s phone conversations were connected to Patel’s alias, “Dirty Harry,” and testimony verified their participation.
Text communications from three mobile phones that were taken from Shand and Patel were put on record by the prosecution. These texts showed conversations from January 19, when the 11 Indians were reportedly directed to travel from Canada to the Manitoba border in order to meet Shand. Prosecutors also presented text exchanges in which Shand asked Patel to “make sure they are dressed for the blizzard” in reference to the weather.
An insight into the inner workings of the smuggling network was given by the trial. An accused participant named Rajinder Singh said that he made over $400,000 by smuggling over 500 individuals, mostly from Gujarat. According to reports, migrants used illicit money transfer services like hawala to pay up to $100,000 each to go to the US.
The deposition of 29-year-old survivor Yash Patel, who had escaped and arrived at the van where Shand had been waiting before being apprehended by the Border Patrol Police, was also presented to the grand jury during the trial.
Through a Gujarati interpreter, Yash had told the court that he “could not forget the family he never saw again” and that he had “been scared that night.” Yash told the court that the group had split up after walking into the frigid weather.
Additionally, the prosecution told the court that the bodies of Jagdish, Vihangi and Dharmik were discovered together, with the father’s hand frozen around his three-year-old son, who was covered in a blanket containing “ducks and stars.”
Vaishali’s body was discovered a mile away, “slumped over the fence”—all 12 meters from the location where they were supposed to cross over to the US. The family was “not dressed to withstand the blizzard,” according to forensic specialists who gave testimony in court.
With more than 14,000 Indian migrants captured across the border in the last year—60% of all arrests in the area—illegal immigration from India along the US-Canada border has increased. Over 7,25,000 illegal Indians are believed to be living in the US, according to the Pew Research Centre. Many of them are motivated by economic goals and the protracted wait for regular immigration routes.
Jamie Holt, a Homeland Security Investigations agent, stated that the case highlights the dangers of people smuggling. The most vulnerable are preyed upon by this heinous crime, which takes advantage of their misery. Holt remarked, “This family’s suffering serves as a tragic reminder of the human cost.”
For the most serious charges, the convicted men can be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail. The circumstances surrounding their deaths were described as “brutal” by the jurors, who were clearly touched by the evidence, which included pictures of the departed family.
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