TWO human traffickers were sentenced on Wednesday for their roles in a smuggling operation that led to the deaths of four Indian nationals in 2022, the US Department of Justice said.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for organising the logistics of the operation, while co-conspirator Steve Anthony Shand, 50, was sentenced to over six years for picking up migrants in the United States.
A jury found the pair guilty of their roles in what officials described as a "large-scale human smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on fraudulent student visas and then smuggled them into the United States," according to the DOJ.
In January 2022, Patel and Shand tried to smuggle 11 Indian nationals from Canada into the United States on foot in severe weather conditions. The DOJ said the recorded wind chill was -37.8 degrees Celsius (-36 degrees Fahrenheit).
A US Border Patrol agent found Shand’s van stuck in the snow in Minnesota, where Shand claimed there were no other people stranded.
But five more people came out of the fields, and one of them was airlifted to a hospital for lifesaving care.
Shand was arrested with two migrants, while the family of four was found later by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Their frozen bodies were discovered 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.
(With inputs from AFP)
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