FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Two men have been convicted by a jury in minnesota on charges related to human smuggling for participating in a scheme that led to the death of an Indian family who froze while trying to cross the Canada-US border during a snowstorm in 2022.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought increasing numbers of Indians to the US. prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said there was a family of four: 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-thirties; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son Dharmik – froze to death on January 19, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme orchestrated by Patel and Shand. Patel is a common Indian surname and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel.
Before the jury’s conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, saw testimony from a alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents and forensic experts.
Defense lawyers were pitted against each other, with Shand’s team claiming he was unknowingly drawn into the scheme by Patel. Patel’s Lawyers, The Canadian Press reportedsaid their client had been misidentified. They said “Dirty Hary,” the alleged nickname for Patel listed in Shand’s phone, is a different person. Bank records and witness statements from those who encountered Shand at the border do not link him to the crime, she added.
Prosecutors said Patel was the operation’s coordinator, while Shand was a driver. Shand would pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the Canadian border, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the crossing. Later that morning, Canadian authorities found two parents and their young children dead from the cold.