Jury reaches verdicts in human smuggling case after Indian family froze to death at Canada-US border

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Two men charged in a human smuggling case that resulted in the deaths of an Indian family who froze while attempting to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard have been found guilty by a jury.

It is anticipated that the jury’s verdict will be made public in court soon.

Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, and Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who authorities said used the moniker Dirty Harry, were each charged with four counts of people smuggling. The guys, according to the prosecution, were involved in a complex criminal scheme that has been bringing more and more Indians into the United States.

An alleged member in the smuggling operation that prosecutors claimed smuggled Indian nationals from Canada into the United States testified during the federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which started on Monday. The jury also heard testimony from forensic specialists, border patrol officers, and a survivor of the perilous trek across the northern border.

Defense lawyers squared off against one another, with Shand’s camp claiming that Patel had unintentionally enlisted him in the plot. The prosecution’s case, according to Patel’s lawyers, was based on shaky witness testimony, and their client had come to America in search of a better life before being falsely convicted of crimes he had not committed.

According to the prosecution, Shand was a driver and Patel was the operation’s organizer. According to authorities, Shand was scheduled to pick up 11 Indian migrants in January 2022 on the Minnesota side of the Canadian border. Seven people made it via the foot crossing. Later that morning, two parents and their small children were discovered dead from the cold by Canadian police.

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