Human traffickers sentenced in freezing deaths of 4 Indian nationals

WASHINGTON: Two human traffickers were sentenced Wednesday for their roles in a smuggling operation that resulted in the 2022 deaths of four Indian nationals, including a three-year-old and an 11-year-old, the US Department of Justice said.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for organizing logistics and co-conspirator Steve Anthony Shand, 50, was sentenced to over six years for picking up migrants in the United States.

A jury convicted the duo for their work in a “large-scale human smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on fraudulent student visas and then smuggled them into the United States,” justice officials said.

In January 2022, amid severe weather, Patel and Shand attempted to smuggle 11 Indian nationals from Canada into the United States on foot, the DOJ said, adding the recorded wind chill temperature was -37.8 degrees Celsius (-36 degrees Fahrenheit).

A US Border Patrol agent found Shand’s van stuck in the Minnesota snow, where Shand claimed there were no other people stranded out in the cold.

But five more people emerged from the fields, including one who was airlifted to a hospital for lifesaving care.

Shand was arrested along with two migrants.

But the family of four was not found until the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their frozen bodies in an isolated area in Canada.

“The boy was wrapped in a blanket with his father’s frozen glove covering his face,” the DOJ said.

“Every time I think about this case I think about this family — including two beautiful little children — who the defendants left to freeze to death in a blizzard,” said Acting US Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.