Lagatar24 Desk
Ahmedabad, May 9: An official said on Monday that Gujarat police have launched an investigation into the families of six young Indian citizens thought to be natives of the state who were seized by US border authorities last week during a failed attempt to smuggle into America from Canada.
“We have learnt that those six Indians are natives of Mehsana district. But, we don’t have any other information about them. Their families have also not contacted us for any help yet. We have launched an inquiry from our side and started an exercise to trace the families,” said Mehsana District Superintendent of Police Achal Tyagi.
Notably, seven people were arrested in connection with a failed smuggling attempt early Thursday morning, according to US Customs and Border Protection. Six of them, all Indian citizens, were charged with illegally entering the United States as aliens. The seventh individual, a US citizen, was charged with Alien Smuggling, a crime punishable by a fine and up to ten years in jail for each infraction.
Suspicious behaviour had been reported to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, which alerted the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department about a boat transporting many people travelling from Canada to the United States.
The six Indian nationals were formally apprehended by US border police attempting to enter the US from Canada a few days after their rescue from the sinking boat.
The US authorities identified these six persons as N A Patel, D H Patel, N E Patel, U Patel, S Patel, and D A Patel. The seventh person was arrested for helping human smuggling. He was a US citizen who made it to the shore on his own.
Also read: Six Indians arrested at US-Canada border on human smuggling suspicion
