A US Federal Jury convicted two smugglers including an Indian-origin man for the deaths of a Gujarati family in January 2022 on the Canada-US border.

A federal jury in the District of Minnesota convicted two men on Friday including Harsh Patel, also known as Dirty Harry, and Steve Shand for their roles in a human smuggling venture that resulted in the deaths of Vaishali Patel, her husband Jagdish and their two young children, 11-year-old and three-year-old from Gujarat's Dingucha village.

According to evidence presented in trial, between December 12, 2021, and January 19, 2022, Patel, 29, and Shand, 50, conspired to smuggle dozens of migrants across the border of Canada and into the United States.

The court arguments reportedly mentioned that the convicts were aware that the -35°C would kill the family “but they decided their profit was more important than these human lives”. 

Following a five-day trial, the jury found Patel and Shand each guilty of four counts of human smuggling. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first and second counts and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the third and fourth counts.

An agent and witness named Rajinder Pal Singh, who was declared guilty by the US court in this case, was sentenced to 45 months. 

Rajinder also identified Fenil Patel during interrogation and admitted his involvement in getting Dingucha’s Patel family to cross the border.

Another witness was 23-year-old Yash Patel (also unrelated to the deceased family), who was travelling with the Patel family to the US. He testified he and the other migrants were dropped off in the middle of a blizzard in Manitoba and had to walk until they saw another car, as per reports of BBC.

On Jan 19, 2022, the Patel family died of exposure to severe cold, trying to illegally cross the Canada-US border, and enter the USA.

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Man accused of smuggling family that died on Canada-US border nabbed in US