Two men guilty in human smuggling case after migrant family froze to death in blizzard

Two men have been convicted on charges related to human smuggling after a family of Indian migrants froze to death while trying to cross the Canada-US border.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, a 29-year-old Indian national who went by the nickname “Dirty Harry”, and Steve Shand, 50, from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought increasing numbers of Indians to the US, according to prosecutors.

The family – Jagdish Patel, his wife Vaishaliben, their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi, and three-year-old son Dharmik – froze to death while trying to make the journey into the US during a blizzard on 19 January 2022. They were of no relation to Patel.

Minnesota’s US Attorney Andy Luger said the trial had “exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organisations that value profit and greed over humanity”.

“To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family,” he continued.

“Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures.”

Patel and Shand were each found guilty of four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally.

They could face maximum sentences of up to 20 years for the first two counts, 10 for the third and five for the fourth, the US Attorney’s Office said before the trial.

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Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was the driver set to pick up 11 Indian migrants – including the family – on the Minnesota side of the Canada border, the court heard. Only seven people survived the foot crossing.

The two parents and their young children were found dead by Canadian authorities in the morning.