UPDATE: 4 Fatalities Linked to Extensive Human Smuggling Scheme, with Stops in Fargo and Grand Forks

PEMBINA, ND (trfnews.i234.me) We now have more details in a human smuggling case that left a family of 4 from India dead from exposure, just over the Minnesota border into Canada this week. Steve Shand of Florida has been arrested and Homeland Security says this may be just part of a larger smuggling operation.
by now you’ve likely heard about the case of steve shand of florida he’s facing a human smuggling charge at this point after a family of four from india was found froze to death along the canadian border this week we now have more details in this case from the federal criminal complaint a homeland security agent says this case may be part of a larger smuggling operation that apparently included a stop at a grand forks hotel reading from the criminal complaint written by a homeland security agent we are changing the names of specific law enforcement personnel to agent from the criminal complaint quote on january 19th i uh responded to a request for assistance from the border patrol agent uh in pembina north dakota the agent told me that steve shand a suspected smuggler of undocumented foreign nationals had been arrested near the u.s canadian border earlier in the day for transporting two indian nationals who were illegally present in the united states the agent told me that the group of five indian illegal nationals illegally present in the us were also identified and arrested near the time and place of shan’s arrest six of the seven arrested for nationals were present at the pembina border patrol station one of the foreign nationals was hospitalized for cold injuries upon responding to the border patrol station in pembina i observed that shand had been driving a white colored 15 passenger van with missouri license plate the van contained plastic cups cases of bottled water juice snacks located in the extreme rear of the van behind the last seat two sales receipts from walmart and fargo were found with the drinks and snacks both were dated january 18th the receipts listed in the uh for the drinks and snacks found in the van indicated they were related to their purchase the agent showed me three other documents that had been found in the van driven by shand the first document was a rental agreement for a van from enterprise rent-a-car located at the minneapolis st paul airport dated january 17th the due date for the return of the van to enterprise was january 20th the enterprise agreement was in shan’s name and indicated he resided in deltona florida the second document was a rental agreement for a full-size passenger van from alamo rent-a-car at minneapolis airport dated january 10th the due date for the return of the passenger that passenger van was january 13th the alamo agreement was also in shan’s name and indicated he was from deltona florida the third document was a room rental receipt from the hotel la quinta by windham in grand forks dated january 11th the receipt was in shan’s name and gave his address as deltona florida in the property belongings uh to the undocumented foreign nationals i observed that five of them were i outfitted with identical cold weather gear they each had what appeared to be new black in color winter coats with fur trimmed hoods black gloves gloves and insulated rubber boots the other two foreign nationals had new looking boots coats hats and gloves but not identical to the others i also observed in shan’s property that he was in possession of a set of black gloves that matched the gloves belonging to the five foreign nationals with matching cold weather clothing i learned that all the foreign nationals spoke uh gujarati a language spoken in gujarat in western india most had limited or no english language speaking ability uh the agent informed me that uh shand is a naturalized united states citizen who was born in jamaica and naturalized in 2010 uh the agent states that queries of the department of homeland security computer systems and coordination with canadian law enforcement produced no records of shand lawfully crossing from the united states to canada or canada to the united states um the agent reviewed another agent’s report who encountered shan the agent documented that he had performed a traffic stop on a white colored passenger van with missouri license plates at approximately 8 30 a.m less than one mile south of the u.s canadian border in a rural area between the official ports of entry at lancaster minnesota and pemberton north dakota that location is in the state of minnesota approximately seven miles northeast of saint vincent minnesota shand was driving the van and there were two passengers inside uh the agent asked for identification and determined that the passengers were undocumented indian nationals uh whereupon he arrested them on immigration charges another agent arrived on the scene and arrested shan uh for a violation of title eight united states code uh bringing in and harboring certain air uh aliens while shannon and the two indian nationals were being transported to the pembina border patrol station in north dakota other border patrol agents discovered five additional indian nationals approximately a quarter mile south of the canadian border walking in the direction of where shand was arrested border patrol determined that all were illegally present in the united states asian attempted to interview shan but upon being advised of his rights shane declined to speak with law enforcement a driver of a snowman removal truck reported to border patrol that he had encountered shan earlier in the morning of january 19th in a white colored passenger van stuck in the snow filled ditch a near where shan was later arrested the driver pulled the van out of the ditch with his truck and spoke with shand he stated shan told him he was on the way to winnipeg to visit friends the driver noticed two passengers in the van who he believed were of indian descent concerning the circumstances surrounding shan’s arrest i know that shannon had driven a long distance from minneapolis and was encountered driving in a rural area on a dirt road in an area far away from any services homes are a port of entry into canada he was driving through blowing snow and snow drifts the weather was severe at the time with high winds blowing snow and temperatures well below zero i understand that the area is also known by the border patrol as a high incident area for human smuggling an agent reported there were recently three separate incidents of human smuggling that occurred at the same location where shand was arrested the agent himself had produced observed a boot print in the snow made by three individuals who had walked across the u.s canadian border at that location on january 12th agents said the uh three sets of boot prints were made by the same brand of boots and that the prints matched the type brand of the types of boots worn by the five of the seven foreign nationals arrested in the current smuggling event where shand was arrested i observed photographs of the boot prints and saw the did appear to be the same tread style as the boots being worn by the arrested foreign nationals the two previous smuggling events were discovered by border patrol agents observing footprints in the snow two groups of four appeared to have walked across the border into the u.s and were picked up by someone in a vehicle the estimated date of these two events were december 12th and 22nd of 2021 related to the december 12th event the royal canadian mounted police reported that a backpack was found at what was believed to be a drop-off point for the illegal border crossers inside the uh backpack was a price tag showing a price in roofies indian currency the group of five indian nationals found after shanda or shan’s arrest had walked across the border expected to be picked up by someone in the u.s side according to one of the five whose name was a vd vd estimated as group walks approximately one kilometer south from where they were dropped off in canada and then had been walking for approximately 11 and a half hours vd was in possession of a backpack that did not belong to him vd said that he was carrying the backpack for a family of four indian nationals that earlier had been walking with this group vd said the family was already at the drop-off location when he arrived the backpack contained children’s clothes a diaper toys and some children’s medication vd said that his group had become separated from the family during the night he did not know where the family was later on january 19th border patrol received a report from the royal canadian mounted police that four bodies were found frozen just inside the canadian side of the international border the dead bodies were tentatively identified of the as the family of four that was separated from vd’s group in the night two of the surviving indian nationals sustained serious injuries a male adult and female adult were taken to the hospital for suspected frostbite the male was later released from the hospital but the female was life flighted to a larger hospital and it will likely require partial amputation of one hand from exposure due to the extreme cold weather conditions the female also stopped breathing several times while being transported to by border patrol the investigation into the deaths of the four individuals in canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation of what shand is suspected of being apart for example uh the agent says i know that one of the indian nationals provided limited information to border patrol he reported that he paid a significant amount of money to enter canada from india on the under a fraudulently obtained student visa he did not intend to study in canada but rather to illegally enter the united states he had crossed the border into the united states on foot and had expected to be picked up by an individual who would drive him to his uncle’s residence in chicago unquote that’s from the criminal complaint again the investigation into all this continues after a family of four dies of exposure along the canadian border this week i’m Neil Berg reporting for trfnews.i234.me