The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the district of Minnesota
issued a release late Thursday afternoon and said 47-year-old Steve Shand of Florida had been arrested and charged with human smuggling in connection with the incident.
Shand was driving with two passengers determined to
be undocumented foreign nationals from India, according to the release.
Inside the vehicle officers found found cases of plastic cups, bottled water, bottled juice and snacks in the van. As they were taking the trio back to the border patrol station in North Dakota, officers came across
another group of five Indian nationals walking.
They said they had walked across the border and had expected to be picked up by someone. The group said they estimate they had been walking for more than 11 hours.
Two of them had serious injuries and were transported to a hospital, the release stated.
Manitoba RCMP say the bodies of four people -- two adults, a teen and an infant -- were found on the Canadian side of the U.S./Canada border near Emerson on Wednesday.
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