Two men found guilty in smuggling deaths of family at US-Canada border

A Minnesota jury has found two men guilty of helping smuggle an Indian family from Canada to the US in January 2022, leading to their deaths.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand were found guilty on all counts of human trafficking, criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Both had pleaded not guilty to the charges in relation to the death of the Patel family, whose bodies were found frozen in a Manitoba field by Canadian authorities 12m (39ft) from the US border.

The trial has shed light on human smuggling operations that help foreign nationals move to North America unlawfully.

The jury presented the verdict in a Minnesota court on Friday after a few hours of deliberation.

The trial, which began on Monday, included testimony from another convicted migrant smuggler and a survivor from the same group that the Patel family was traveling with.

The jury was also shown text messages sent between the two accused in the weeks leading up to the day the Patel family died. They discussed travel logistics for the migrants, as well as the freezing temperatures on the day of the fatal trip.

The bodies of Vaishaliben Patel, her husband Jagdish and their two young children, 11-year-old Vihangi and three-year-old Dharmik, were found by Canadian police in January 2022.

Authorities believe that the family - who had travelled on visitor visas from their home village in western India to Toronto, Canada - were trying to cross into the US when they were caught in the blinding blizzard and temperatures as low as -35C (-31F).

Prosecutors said they had become separated from a larger group of people being smuggled across the border.

Authorities said Patel (the accused, who is not related to the deceased family) was a key organizer of the operation, while Shand was arrested for planning to pick-up the family and other migrants once they crossed into the US.

Lawyers for Shand argued that he was recruited by Patel and was "an unknowing participant" in the smuggling enterprise, and said that their client "did not agree to participate in any crime."

The trial exposed the workings of a complex, international network that sought to illegally funnel immigrants into the United States through Canada at great risk to would-be migrants.