HARSHKUMAR Ramanlal Patel, 28, accused of recruiting the driver in the case of the Indian family that froze to death trying to illegally enter the U.S. from Manitoba in January 2022, was arrested last week on Wednesday in Chicago on a warrant issued in September, according to news reports.

He was charged with transportation of an illegal alien and conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien to the United States.

Patel allegedly hired Steve Shand of Florida, to drive migrants from the Canadian border to the Chicago area. Shand, who allegedly told authorities Patel paid him a total of $25,000 to make five such trips in December 2021 and January 2022, has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges and awaits trial on March 25.

The bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife, Vaishali, 37, their daughter, Vihangi, 11, and son, Dharmik, 3, were found just 12 metres from the U.S. border. All were Indian nationals.

On January 19, 2022, U.S. border patrol agents arrested Shand and two migrants in a rented 15-seater passenger van on a snowy highway in Minnesota, just south of the Canadian border near Emerson, Manitoba. Five other migrants were caught by the border patrol walking down the same highway shortly after.

Federal authorities believe Harshkumar Patel himself entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 after he had been refused a U.S. visa at least five times, the federal complaint said. Shand told investigators that Patel operates a gambling business in Orange City, Florida, and that he knew him because he gambled there and operated a taxi business that took people there.

The complaint cited cellphone records indicating hundreds of communications between Shand and Patel that investigators say show how he facilitated the smuggling of the Patel family on the U.S. side of the border.

“Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard,” Shand texted Patel on the evening of January 18 – the day before the family was found dead, according to court records.

U.S. authorities also allege that Harshkumar Patel provided Shand with GPS coordinates to a pick-up spot near the U.S.-Canada border and two phone numbers of contacts in Canada, CBC reported.

During a March 9, 2022, interview with a U.S. Homeland Security investigator, “Shand described five total trips he had made to the international border in Minnesota in December 2021 and January 2022 to transport Indian nationals.”

CBC reported that in addition to the allegations against Patel, the new affidavit also contains information linking another alleged smuggler to the family’s death.

According to the affidavit, convicted human smuggler Rajinder Pal Singh identified Fenil Patel during an interview with Homeland Security investigators after his arrest as one of the people involved, saying he arranged the trip for the family that died.

Fenil Patel is facing charges in the Indian state of Gujarat of culpable homicide and human smuggling for his alleged role in the death of the Patel family.

“Singh stated that [Fenil] Patel arranged the trip for the family that died in Manitoba, Canada, on Jan. 19, 2022. Singh stated that [Fenil] Patel currently resides in Toronto, Canada,” according to the affidavit.