Police have charged a Florida man with smuggling after he was found traveling near the U.S.-Canadian border with two undocumented foreign nationals from India.
On Wednesday, a U.S Border Patrol (USBP) arrested Steve Shand 47, who at the time was traveling between the official ports of border entry in Lancaster, Minnesota and Pembina, North Dakota, CNN U.S. reports.
According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, Shand was with two Indian nationals in the U.S. illegally. According to the federal complaint, this is the fourth human smuggling incident to happen at that location. Shand was charged with a count of “knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law, transported, and moved or attempted to transport and move such alien.”
The man is set to appear in court for the first time on Thursday, and he will stay in custody until his hearing on January 24. An ongoing human smuggling investigation has been launched into the recent incidents, as a family of four was found frozen to death inside the Canadian side of the border. Investigators believe these occurrences are part of a larger smuggling operation.
