HARSHKUMAR Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand, who were accused of being part of a ring that flew Indian nationals to Canada on student visas then had them walk across the border, were on Friday found guilty by a Minnesota jury of helping smuggle an Indian family whose frozen bodies were found by the RCMP metres from the border on the Canadian side.
The two men were found guilty on all counts of human trafficking, criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
They had pleaded not guilty to the charges in relation to the death of Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife, Vaishali, 37, their daughter, Vihangi, 11, and son, Dharmik, 3. All were Indian nationals.
The two men, who face as long as 55 years in prison, will be sentenced at a later date, the BBC reported.
The trial, which began on Monday, included testimony from another convicted migrant smuggler and a survivor from the same group that the Patel family was traveling with, as well as text messages sent between the two accused in the weeks leading up to the tragedy, the BBC said.
LAST February, The VOICE reported that Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 28, accused of recruiting the driver in the case of the Patel family, was arrested in Chicago on a warrant issued in September, according to news reports.
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. 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 contained 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.
