New Delhi, May 30 -- A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with a co-conspirator, after a jury convicted them for their role in "large-scale human-smuggling operation" that led to the deaths of four Indian nationals, including a three-year-old girl, in 2022. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for organising logistics and co-conspirator Steve Anthony Shand, 50, was sentenced to over six years for picking up migrants in US. A jury convicted the duo for their work in a "large-scale human smuggling operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on fraudulent student visas and then smuggled them into the United States", the US Justice Department said. "Patel organised the logistics of smuggling aliens from Manitoba, Canada, into United States, with other co-conspirators, and Shand picked up aliens just south of Canadian border in the United States and drove them to Chicago," the statement said. US prosecutors were able to prove that Patel and Shand disregarded physical safety of several of illegal migrants, which led to the deaths of four Indian nationals in January 2022. In January 2022, amid severe weather, Patel and Shand attempted to smuggle 11 Indian nationals from Canada into the United States on foot, the DOJ said, adding the recorded wind chill temperature was -37.8degC. A US Border Patrol agent found Shand's van stuck in the Minnesota snow, where Shand claimed there were no other people stranded out in the cold. But five more people emerged from the fields, including one who was airlifted to a hospital for lifesaving care. Shand was arrested along with two migrants. But the family of four - 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, 37-year-old Vaishaliben and their two children aged 11 and 3 - was not found until the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their frozen bodies in an isolated area in Canada. "The boy was wrapped in a blanket with his father's frozen glove covering his face," the DOJ said. "Every time I think about this case I think about this family who the defendants left to freeze to death," said Acting US Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. Patel and Shand were paid roughly $100,000 for smuggling migrants from India into America through Canada. Patel will be removed from the United States after completing his sentence. "Patel and Shand endangered thousands of lives for their personal enrichment and are responsible for the deaths of two small children who froze to death on their watch. This case demonstrates the danger associated with human smuggling," said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of Justice Department's CriminalDivision....