American court, symbolic photo.
Minnesota: 2 convicts, who were accused of international smuggling in the US, have been sentenced to jail. He was convicted in the case of the death of four Indian citizens while crossing the Canada-US border in January 2022. Both of them have been sentenced to jail for their serious role in the international human trafficking conspiracy. The four deceased belonged to the same family. These include a couple and their two young children, including their son 3 years old and the daughter was just 11 years old.
After hearing in the federal court in Minnesota district, 29 -year -old Indian -origin Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, a resident of Florida, was sentenced to 10 years and one month. After the sentence is completed, he will be deported from the US. At the same time, 50 -year -old Steve Anthony Shand has been sentenced to 6 years 6 months in jail and 2 years of surveillance release.
Know what was the whole matter?
According to the prosecution, Harsh Patel and Anthony Shand, who were convicted in international human trafficking, were part of an organized human trafficking network, who used to work to bring Indian citizens to Canada on fake student visas first and then to America illegally. Patel played a key role in the logistics of smuggling from Manitoba in Canada to the US, while the Shand used to receive him on the border of America and take him to Chicago. The prosecution said that through this network, the cost of bringing a person from India to America was up to US $ 100,000 lakh (about 83 lakh rupees).
This is how Indians died
According to the information, on the night of 18 and 19 January 2022, these Indians were going through the range of Canada-US, there was a severe cold of minus 36 degrees Celsius. Along with this, there were warnings of icy storms. Despite all this, both smugglers planned 11 people from Canada to the US on foot smuggling. The same night, US Border Security Officers arrested the Shand with two illegal migrants from a van stuck in snow in Minnesota. During interrogation, Shand claimed that no other person was together, but later five more people were found from the nearby fields, one of whom was severe hypothermia and immediately rushed to the hospital. The same day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) recovered the bodies of four people from a deserted area on the Canada border, which was completely frozen in the snow. These also included 2 children. One of them was found to be covered with his father’s frozen hands.
America’s reaction
Matthew R.K. Geloti described the incident as a terrible example of dangerous consequences of human trafficking. He said, “Patel and Shand put the lives of innocent people for their benefit, including two young children and who were killed in the cold due to their negligence.” Minnesota’s acting American Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said, “Every time I think about the matter, the picture of that innocent family comes in front of my eyes. This incident reminds us that human trackers do not care about human values.”
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