Ahmedabad: After news emerged on Saturday that a family of four from Gujarat had frozen to death on the Canada-US border, Gujarat Police officers said on Sunday that the three countries will launch a probe.
The Gujarat Police officers said that the security agencies of Canada and the US, and the Indian police will focus on the larger racket of illegal immigration.
The officers said that the state CID (crime) has been assigned the task of unearthing the network of human traffickers targeting Gandhinagar and parts of central and north Gujarat.
The victims are Jagdish Patel, 35; his wife, Vaishali, 33; and their children Vihanga, 12, and Dharmik, 3. They were residents of Nava Dingucha village in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar. They were reportedly separated from a larger group of Indians who made it across the border to the US in -35 degrees celsius temperature. Their bodies were found just 30 feet from the US border on the Canadian side.
The family had left for Canada about 10 days ago. “Earlier, the traffickers used to provide entry to illegal immigrants from the southern border of the US with Mexico or from Havana in Cuba,” said a police officer. “But the US authorities have tightened controls on the southern border. So the preferred route for traffickers these days is through Canada.”
The officer said a travel agent from north Gujarat and another from Mumbai are under the scanner. He said they helped the Patel family travel to Canada. “We strongly suspect that these two agents were in constant touch with a Florida resident named Steve Shand,” the officer said. “We believe this Florida man played a part in planning the illegal crossing into the US for the family and seven others.”
The officer said that the security agencies of the US and Canada have already started a probe and they will coordinate with the Indian police to bust the human trafficking racket. Sources said that the four were expecting to be picked up by someone and they had been walking in freezing conditions for about 11 hours. One of the group’s members had a backpack with children’s belongings It turned out he was carrying them for the family, which was eventually separated during a blizzard. A team of the Gujarat Police has been talking with the people of the Kalol village to determine the whereabouts of the travel agents.
