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Indian smuggler convicted in death of migrant family at US-Canada border
"Dirty Harry" was convicted alongside Steve Anthony Shand for smuggling migrants to the US
Stock Image. / Pexels
An Indian national, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, known by the alias "Dirty Harry," was convicted for his role in a human smuggling operation that led to the death of a Gujarati family attempting to cross into the United States during a severe blizzard in January 2022.
A federal jury in Minnesota found Patel guilty of four counts of human smuggling, including conspiracy to illegally bring migrants into the United States. “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. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” U.S. prosecutors said.
Patel, operating from Canada, coordinated the smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals across the US-Canada border under life-threatening conditions. On January 19, 2022, Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben, 35, their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi, and three-year-old son Dharmik were found frozen to death near Emerson, Manitoba.
Prosecutors revealed Patel worked with accomplices in Canada to arrange the logistics of smuggling trips. The migrant family, part of an 11-member group, had paid large sums to be illegally transported to the U.S. via Canada. Patel organized the journey while his co-conspirator, Florida resident Steve Shand, transported migrants once they crossed the border.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger for the District of Minnesota; Special Agent in Charge Jamie Holt of the HSI St. Paul Field Office; and Chief Patrol Agent Scott D. Garrett of the USBP Grand Forks Sector made the announcement.
A survivor testified that the group endured over seven hours of walking in sub-zero temperatures. Evidence presented at trial linked Patel to a broader network smuggling hundreds of Indian nationals into the U.S. for profit.
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