India alleges international students being trafficked through Canada to U.S.
Indian law enforcement agencies say they are investigating alleged links between dozens of colleges in Canada and two “entities” in Mumbai accused of illegally ferrying students across the Canada-United States border.A news release Tuesday from India’s Enforcement Directorate — a multi-disciplinary organization that investigates money laundering and foreign exchange laws — said a multi-city search has revealed “incriminating” evidence of “human trafficking.”The allegations have not been tested in court. The federal government, the RCMP, and Indian high commission in Ottawa, and multiple Canadian college officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The U.S.
embassy said Thursday it had no comment.Indian officials say they launched their investigation after Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, 39, was found dead along with his wife and two children near a border crossing between Manitoba and the United States on Jan. 19, 2022.Last month, a Minnesota jury found two men guilty — Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago — on four counts related to bringing unauthorized people into the U.S., transporting them and profiting from it.Patel is a common name in India, and the family was not related to the accused.Prosecutors said Harshkumar Patel co-ordinated a sophisticated operation while Shand was a driver.
Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the foot crossing.
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