Manitoba border deaths: Trial sees texts between men accused in deaths [Video]

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. –

The trial of two men accused of human smuggling is getting a look at messages the prosecution says prove the pair conspired to sneak people across the Canada-United States border.

Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel have pleaded not guilty to charges of organizing several illegal crossings of Indian nationals from Manitoba to Minnesota in late 2021 and early 2022.

During one of their alleged operations, a family of four froze to death just north of the border in a blizzard.

The trial was shown text and social media messages sent between two cellphones registered to Shand and a phone number that matches one Patel had submitted when he earlier applied for residency in the U.S.

In one exchange in December 2021, a message from Shand’s phone said it was “cold as hell” followed by, “They going to be alive when they get here?”

The other phone responded that they would …