Gujarat Man Arrested For Smuggling Family Who Froze On US-Canada Border
Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
India-West News Desk
CHICAGO, IL – US authorities have arrested Harshkumar Patel, the primary suspect in the tragic human trafficking incident of 2022, where four members of a family from Gujarat, froze to death while being smuggled into the US through Canada. The victims’ frozen bodies were found near Emerson, Manitoba.
Patel was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. He now faces charges related to the ‘transportation of illegal aliens and conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien to the United States.’
WhatsApp exchanges and financial transactions from Patel have been unveiled, exposing an international human smuggling network originating from Gujarat.
The court hearing is set for February 28, with a potential transfer to Minnesota. Court documents reveal Patel’s involvement in an organized human smuggling group. Investigations uncovered Patel’s communication with Steve Shand, arrested on January 19, 2022, while transporting seven individuals, including the four victims, near the US border. Others identified in the case are Fenil Patel in Canada and Bittu Singh.
Shand, connected to five other similar cases between December 2021 and January 2022, operated under Patel’s direction, utilizing various aliases, reports say. Court documents disclosed that Patel provided Shand with route maps for transporting illegal migrants from the Canada-US border.
Maneck Bhujwala
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People smugglers who make money (often life savings of their customers) encouraging people with false hopes of a better life and often abandoning them near the borders should be given harsh punishment to deter new smugglers and imprisoned for long terms to keep them out of returning to their trade. The US Information Services in other countries should inform people on the dangers of falling victims to ruthless smugglers and enlighten them on living on the streets as homeless poeple if they do not have sponsors to take care of them in the USA.
February 26, 2024