Two Indians were arrested after they froze to their deaths at the US-Canada border.
Police in India arrested two men for their involvement in the deaths four victims near the border with Canada and the United States in January 2022.
The bodies of the victims, including a three-year old child, were found lying together frozen A field in Canada’s Manitoba is 12m from the US Border.
Gujarat state officials, where the family was originally from, claimed that the arrested men were “illegal immigrants” agents.
Two agents, based in Canada and the US, are being sought by police for arrest.
Jagdish Patel, 39; Vaishaliben 37; their daughter Vihangi, 11; and Dharmik, 3, were from Gujarat’s Dingucha, where many locals wanted to go abroad. They died after walking hours in freezing temperatures. The story made national headlines all over the globe.
The Patels were part of a group that included 11 Gujarati nationals who tried to enter the US. After crossing the border, US authorities took seven of the other members of the group into custody.
“The city crime section has registered an offence for a case in which the accused (agents had forced 11 persons to walk in snow in order to get them illegally across the US-Canada border. This caused the death of four family members,” Chaitanya Manndlik, a senior officer in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad told reporters.
The Canadian Press is a news agency. reported According to reports, the men arrested were “acting as immigrants agents”, supplying family members with paperwork and helping them get into the USA.
They are charged with human trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and culpable murder not equaling to murder.
“The victims were transported to Toronto, Canada and then to Vancouver. “The agents dumped them at Winnipeg in Manitoba, leaving them alone to cross to the US,” Indian news agency PTI quotes Mr Mandlik saying.
The Canadian Press was informed by Manitoba police that there is no evidence that the Patel family has traveled to Vancouver.
Canadian police stated that they are working with international law enforcement partners to improve the investigation into the deaths.