Key Takeaways:
- Indian police detained six people in a crackdown on illegal immigration after four Indians were discovered frozen to death near the US-Canada border last week.
Following the discovery of four Indians frozen to death near the US-Canada border last week, Indian police detained six people in a crackdown on illegal immigration.
Every year, hundreds of Indians, mainly from the western states of Punjab and Gujarat, try to cross the US-Canada border, despite the harsh weather conditions, in searching for a better life and job opportunities in the West.
After law enforcement organizations on the border provided photos of passports and other belongings, police in Gujarat said they could identify the four who belonged to a single family.
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“We are now trying to apprehend the human traffickers who were able to send this family and others abroad through illegal channels,” said A.K. Jhala, a police official in Gandhinagar, the state capital.
According to him, the six people detained by police ran a travel and tourism company in the state.
US authorities charged a US guy with human smuggling after the four — a man, woman, baby, and teenager — were discovered dead in Manitoba, Canada, just yards north of the Minnesota border.
They have been part of four families who crossed the border earlier this month from the same village.
Officials said they became separated from the group of 18 people and were likely caught in a blizzard, resulting in a tragedy that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as “mind-boggling.”
The situation was only discovered when authorities apprehended the group, and one of them was discovered to be carrying a backpack containing baby supplies. However, there was no infant in the group.
“Human trafficking has a deep nexus that often involves local politicians as well,” Jhala said, adding that people are selling their land and homes to fund their journey to the United States or Canada.
Officials in the Indian capital of New Delhi are coordinating with border officials in the United States and Canada to investigate the illegal immigration case, according to a foreign ministry official in New Delhi.
Source: Global News
