Washington: According to local media sources, a fraudster of Punjabi origin who was the subject of an RCMP investigation into the death of an Indian family at the Canada-US border last year entered a guilty plea to charges of people smuggling this week.
Rajinder Pal Singh, 49 admitted to receiving more than 500,000 US dollars (more than £400,000) for his part in coordinating a complex human smuggling ring moving migrants into the United States through Canada, media reported.
On January 19 last year, the bodies of three-year-old Dharmik Patel, his 11-year-old sister Vihangi Patel, their mother 37-year-old Vaishali Patel, and their father 39-year-old Jagdish Patel were found in a field east of Emerson, about 100 km south of Winnipeg, according to the media. Singh was arrested in May last year.
In accordance with a plea deal, Singh admitted guilt to conspiring to launder money and to transport and harbour certain aliens for profit in US District Court, Western District of Washington, Seattle.
To help migrants navigate their way over the Canadian border, Singh used the Life360 app, which allows users to share their physical location through their cellphone, according to a media report.
Singh would schedule pickups using the Uber ride-sharing app after they arrived in the States. Frequently, migrants would be dropped off at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before being picked up by another Uber and sent to hotels or safe houses in the wider Seattle area. According to the plea bargain, migrants would be driven or flown to their final destinations throughout the US.
Singh charged up to $11,000 per person for his services. His ride-share scheme involved hundreds of trips, using more than 100 different Uber drivers, and cost more than $80,000.