New arrest, troubles delaying investigation into 2022 Manitoba smuggling deaths revealed in warrant docs | CBC News

Judge rules other information to remain redacted, citing 'serious risk' to RCMP investigation's integrity

Newly obtained search warrant documents reveal police arrested a driver this year believed to have been involved in a human smuggling scheme that led to the deaths of a family of four in Manitoba in 2022.

The documents also provide a closer look into the years-long investigation — and shed light on some of the reasons why RCMP say it's taking so long.

It's been nearly five years since the frozen bodies of 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife, Vaishali, and their two kids — 11-year-old Vihangi and three-year-old Dharmik — were found 12 metres from the U.S. border. They were trying to walk from Manitoba into Minnesota in January 2022 and became separated from a larger group of migrants.

In a trove of search warrant documents obtained by CBC News, RCMP said the unnamed driver arrested in February 2026 — one of the most recent updates made public in the case — is believed to have helped bring the Patels and other migrants to Winnipeg before their treacherous journey to the border.

"Investigation is ongoing to determine if they will be a witness or subject to prosecution in either Canada or the United States," an affidavit filed by an RCMP sergeant in May said.

The documents also paint a picture of why the RCMP say the investigation has progressed so slowly.

Though Canadian "person of interest" Fenil Patel — whom the documents allege was responsible for organizing the smuggling and drove the migrants to the border — was arrested last year after a U.S. extradition request, no charges in the investigation have been laid in Canada.

The RCMP affidavit from May 2026 said U.S. law enforcement told Mounties they'd gotten a sealed indictment for six charges against Patel, who is not related to the Patel family.

In the months before his arrest last year, an earlier affidavit filed by an RCMP constable said the unit responsible for border-related cases in Manitoba had been "plagued with resourcing challenges and competing priorities."

"Due to resourcing issues and deployments to the border beginning in January 2025 as a result of the recent spotlight on the international border by the new President of the USA, RCMP investigators have been unable to follow up on new developments of the Investigation," including search warrant results and information from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the May 2025 affidavit said.

Authorities feared man arrested in smuggling scheme that led to deaths at border would flee: court documents