THE PATEL FAMILY was seeking a better life that turned deadly with smugglers involved. Courtesy photo.
A hunt to find the smugglers of a family from India found frozen near the U.S. border has led police back to Toronto and Pearson International Airport.
The RCMP have confirmed that the family arrived in Toronto from India on January 12 and left soon after for Emerson, Manitoba.
It takes more than 19 hours to make the 2,120 km trip by car to Emerson in good weather.
THE FROZEN bodies of the Patels were found just metres from the Canadian border inside the U.S.
“There was no abandoned vehicle located on the Canadian side of the border,” the Manitoba RCMP said in a release. “This indicates that someone drove the family to the border and then left the scene.”
Investigators are going back in time trying to determine how the family travelled from Toronto on January 12 to arrive in Emerson on January 18.
They believe someone may have picked up the family at Pearson and drove them to their deaths.
“With what we know so far of their activities in Canada, along with the arrest that occurred in the United States, we believe this to be a case of human smuggling,” the Mounties said.
AFTER TOUCHING down in Toronto, the Patels were found dead a week later.
They said “the Patel family moved around Canada for a period of time and we are looking for anyone that may have had encounters with them.”
Police autopsies have identified the family members as Jagdishkumar Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37, daughter Vihangi, 11, and son, Dharmik, 3.
The family, from the Dingucha village in India’s western state of Gujarat, had travelled to Toronto on January 12, the Mounties said. It is believed the adults had risked their lives for a better opportunity for their children.
Their frozen bodies were found in the snow, just metres from the border on January 19. A man on the U.S. side was arrested and charged with human smuggling and is before the courts.
It is believed the family was being smuggled into the U.S. in a blizzard when they froze. The smuggler took off.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Manitoba has confirmed that the cause of death was due to exposure.
The RCMP has been working closely with RCMP Liaison Officers in New Delhi, India and Washington, D.C., and have been in regular contact with Indian consular officials.
If you have any information on this investigation please call the Manitoba RCMP Major Crime Services at 431-489-8551, or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.