The discovery of four bodies, including that of a baby and a teenager, in Canada near the US border, led a Florida man to be charged with human smuggling on Thursday.
According to authorities, it would be a failed attempt to cross the border during a freezing blizzard.
Steve Shand, from 22 years, was charged with human smuggling after seven Indian nationals were found in the United States and the discovery of the bodies, reported the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
To support the arrest of the Shand, one of the court documents filed Wednesday indicates that one of the individuals spent a significant amount of money to come to Canada on a fraudulent student visa.
John Stanley, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, testified in docume Officials say that the investigation into the deaths of the four people in Canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation that Shand is suspected of being a part of.
On Wednesday, Border Patrol in North Dakota stopped a 15 passenger van just south of the Canadian border, which was being driven by the defendant, court documents allege he was with two undocumented Indian nationals.
Around the same time, five other people were spotted by police in the nearby snow. The group, who were also Indian nationals, told officers that they had been walking for more than 11 hours outside in frigid conditions.
A woman stopped breathing several times while being taken to the hospital and was going to require a partial amputation of her hand. A man was also hospitalized for frostbite, but was later released.
Another male in the group was carrying a backpack with baby items and noted that he belonged to a family that had separated from the group during the night.
The assistant commissioner RCMP officer Jane MacLatchy said at a news conference in Winnipeg on Thursday that once troopers were notified the family might still be in Manitoba, officers immediately began searching the area.
After a hard search, authorities found three bodies together, a man, a woman and a baby, a little more than 6 miles from the border near Emerson, Man. The search continued and a teenager was found short distance. All four would have put up due to exposure to low temperatures.
Although they all wore winter clothing, it was not enough to save them with the freezing conditions.
Shand was arrested Wednesday and remains in custody. US authorities allege in court documents that Shand was likely involved in other border crossings, including two recent incidents in December.
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