‘Left to freeze for death in an icy storm’: Two people were sentenced in America for smuggling in which 4 Indian citizens died
New Delhi: Two people have been sentenced by a federal court in Minnesota for their roles in an international human trafficking operation, killing four Indian citizens in January 2022 at the age of three.According to the US Department of Justice, 29 -year -old Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, who was an Indian national in Florida earlier, was sentenced to 10 years and one month in jail. After his sentence, Patel will be removed from the United States.His co-conspirator, 50-year-old Florida’s 50-year-old Steve Anthony Shand, was sentenced to six years and six months in jail, followed by two years.Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the logistics of Indian citizens from Manitoba in Canada to the US, working with a broad network of co-speculators. Meanwhile, Shand picked up migrants after crossing the US and took them to Chicago. Both men were paid for their roles and ignored severe risks arising from the winter position along the northern border. The evidence presented in the trial revealed that the rate of smuggling through India in the US in Canada was approximately $ 100,000.Matthew R. Geloti, head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, said, “Patel and Shand lost thousands of people for their personal promotion and are responsible for the death of two young children, who kill their watch.”“Every time I think of the matter, I think of this family – including two beautiful young children – the defendants left to kill in an urgent storm,” said American Attorney Lisa de Kirkpatric for Minnesota district.The punishment was followed by a jury testing, in which both men were found guilty of participating in a smuggling network, illegally taken to Indian citizens to the US-Canada border under dangerous conditions. The operation ended in the tragedy when four members of a family, including two young children, were found to be frozen for death near the border in Canada, Canada, while an attempt was made to cross in the US.
