VOIWORLD/Desk
Harsh Patel or Harshkumar Patel was the alleged ringleader who ran human smuggling racket taking assistance of Shand, a US citizen from Florida. They were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought people from India to Canada on student visas and smuggled them across the US border.
He is an Indian national living in the U.S. convicted of organizing the logistics of smuggling trips from Canada. He took help of a taxi driver Steve Shand who was from Florida. Shand used to pick up migrants on the U.S. side in rented vehicles. Patel and Shand were involved in several smuggling trips between Manitoba and Minnesota in December 2021 and January 2022, in which people from India were brought to Canada on student visas then sent on foot across the border to the U.S.
On the ill-fated night leading to death of Patel family members, 11 migrants were dropped off on the Canadian side and told to walk in an overnight blizzard on the open prairie until they came to a van on the American side, where Shand was waiting.
Reports said temperature was very low around-23 C and the wind chill had dipped below -35. The victims faced hardships as there were no buildings or trees to provide shelter. Smugglers gave migrants jeans, thin jackets and hats and mitts not sutiable for any harsh weather conditions.
In the blowing snow, the group got separated. While some could made it to the van after walking for hours, few couldn’t. One woman whose hypothermia was so bad she was flown to Minneapolis for treatment.
A report said hours before the bodies were found, the van had become stuck in snow. A border patrol agent found Shand along with a few migrants in the van. The agent asked Shand whether any more people were still wandering in the cold, but he lied and said no. To know more about the story, please click here.
Harsh Patel will be deported to India after finishing his sentence
