Men Accused Of Smuggling Gujarat Family Who Froze To Death On US-Canada Border Plead Not Guilty [Video]

An Indian-origin man accused of assisting in the smuggling of people across the US-Canada border into Minnesota, including four members of an Indian family from Gujarat who died by freezing in 2022, has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. The four family members of the family, including two children, were found frozen to death while attempting to cross the US-Canada border.

The man identified as 28-year-old Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, also known as  ‘Dirty Harry,’ submitted his plea during a brief teleconference with US Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois in Duluth.

Along with him, 49-year-old Steven Shand, who was detained on January 19, 2022, while driving a van transporting seven people, including the four victims from Gujarat’s Dingucha near the US border, pleaded not guilty to four counts at the same court.

Proceedings in Shand’s case had been repeatedly halted prior to Patel’s arrest last month. Patel continues to be held in …