FERGUS FALLS – A judge in Minnesota has sentenced Steve Shand to 6 1/2 years for his role in a human smuggling operation that saw a family freeze to death in southern Manitoba near the Canada-U.S. border.
A co-accused in the case, Harshkumar Patel, was sentenced earlier today to 10 years.
A jury convicted the two men last fall on four charges related to bringing people illegally into the United States from Canada.
Court heard Patel organized the logistics of the smuggling trips, while Shand picked up migrants on the U.S. side in rented vehicles and drove them to cities, including Chicago.
During one operation in 2022, a couple from India and their two children were sent walking across the border in an overnight blizzard.
Their bodies were later found in a field metres from the border.
