Indian-origin man arrested in connection with death of Gujarati family attempting to illegally enter US in 2022

An Indian-origin man has been arrested in Chicago in connection with an investigation into a January 2022 human smuggling incident in which a family of four from Gujarat, including two children, was found frozen to death while attempting to enter the US from Canada illegally.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel has been arrested by authorities from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and will appear for a detention hearing on February 28, a report in The Chicago Tribune said last week.

Patel, also known as ‘Dirty Harry’, ‘Param Singh’ and ‘Haresh Rameshlal Patel’, has been charged with the criminal offence of ‘transportation of illegal alien and conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien to the United States’.

Court documents, affidavit and criminal complaint filed in the case against Patel in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota provide detailed information about Patel’s involvement in the human smuggling conspiracy.

The affidavit relates to the investigation concerning the human smuggling event on January 19, 2022, in which four family members — Jagdish Patel, 39, Vaishaliben Patel, 37, Vihangi Patel, 11, and Dharmik Patel, 3 — were found frozen to death near Emerson, Manitoba, approximately 12 metres from the Canada/US border while attempting to enter America illegally.

After the bodies were recovered, border patrol authorities arrested Steve Shand, 47, on January 19 for transporting two other Indian nationals.