Manitoba border deaths: phone, banking records shown to jury [Video]

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. –

The jury in a human smuggling trial was presented with phone, banking and other information Thursday that the prosecution says shows two accused men carried out plans to sneak people across the Canada-U.S. border between Manitoba and Minnesota.

Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel are charged with participating in several smuggling operations in December 2021 and January 2022.

One of the alleged trips saw a family of four from India freeze to death in a blizzard on Jan. 19, 2022, the day Shand was arrested in a van just south of the border.

A cellular analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified about records tracking two phones — allegedly Shand’s — that travelled on multiple occasions from his hometown in Florida to Minnesota then to an area near the border.

FBI special agent Nicole Lopez said during those trips there were many calls to and from phones the prosecution says …