"Dirty Harry", Man Linked To Gujarat Human Trafficking Arrested In Chicago (image@Pixabay)
Indian-origin man was arrested in United States in connection with Gujarat’s Dingucha human trafficking case. The case was about four Indians of a family froze to death near Manitoba’s southern border with US. The incident happened two years ago in January 2022, as reported by CBC News.
Man named Harshkumar Patel was arrested at Chicago airport last week. He is also known as ‘Dirty Harry, Param Singh and Haresh Rameshlal Patel’. Patel was allegedly to be involved with Steve Shand, who has been accused of smuggling seven persons from Gujarat illegally, including the four who died in the US border. The dead were Jagdish Patel (39), his wife Vaishali (37), daughter Vihangi (11) and son Dharmik (3).
The family arrived at Toronto on January 12, 2022. Toronto is their first entry point into US. From Toronto, the family travelled to Manitoba and eventually to Emerson. They died near the border to US due to the exposure to extreme weather conditions.
Investigations found WhatsApp exchanges between Harshkumar and Shand. Financial transactions were also found. The arrest and the evidence found are considered to be significant headways into uncovering the US leg of the alleged international human trafficking racket from Gujarat.
“Patel was part of an organised human smuggling group that facilitated illegal entry of Indian nationals into the United States”, said the police in its complaint. The police document also showed details about communication between Patel and Shand. It said the two spoke about “arrangements for rental cars, hotels, and payments to Shand.
Next hearing of the case is scheduled to be on February 28. Reports from CBC suggest that the case could be transferred to Minnesota. Shand’s jury trail is also set to begin in Minnesota in March. Minnesota court document suggest that Harshkumar had provided Shand with the route map for illegal migrants who were to be smuggled to the Canada-US border. The document also suggest that Shande was involved in five such cases from December 2021 and January 2022, at the behest of Harshkumar.
