FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — (AP) — Two men put financial profit over human life when they attempted to smuggle a couple from India and their two young children across the U.S.-Canada border in heavy snow and bone-chilling winds, leading to the family freezing to death, prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors allege Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, ran part of a sprawling human smuggling scheme and recruited Steve Shand, 50, to shuttle migrants across the border. Both men have pleaded not guilty to four federal counts related to human smuggling. Their trial in Minnesota is expected to last about five days.
Prosecutors say the family of four — 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik — died on Jan. 19, 2022, after spending hours wandering in blizzard conditions. Shand had been waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including the family from Gujarat state, as the wind …