The long-cherished American dream of a 34-year-old Mehsana man turned into an endless nightmare when his plan to enter the US illegally with his wife and three children went horribly wrong. The human smugglers forced his wife and three children, aged 12, 7, and 5, to illegally enter the US while they held him captive in Mexico because he could only come up with Rs 1 crore as opposed to the agreed payment of Rs 1.5 crore, according to police sources.
He suffered a brain stroke after being separated from his loved ones and is currently in critical condition at a hospital in Cancun, Mexico.
Priyank Patel, 34, his wife Uma, 32, and three children had left Saldi village in the first week of January, around the same time that a family of four from Dingucha, including two children, died while attempting to cross the land border and enter the United States.
According to sources in the state police, Priyank and his family left their village in January and lived in a leased apartment in the city’s Ghatlodia neighborhood. With the assistance of two local agents, Chandresh Patel from Ahmedabad and Lakhu Patel from Paliyad in Kalol, they later took a flight to Delhi and travelled from there to Mexico.
According to police sources, the deal was done for Rs 1.5 crore and the first installment of Rs 1 crore was given to the two agents through angadia. However, when Priyank and his family arrived in Cancun, local agents instructed the Mexican people smugglers to keep them detained since he had not yet paid Rs. 50 lakh. According to police sources, they tortured the family for more than a week before Priyank begged them to free his wife and children because the majority of the payment had already been made.
He was taken away from Uma and the kids. But since then, Priyank hasn’t heard from his wife and kids. After months of the gang torturing him over the outstanding money, he had a brain attack last week in June. He has diabetes, and as a result, his health continues to deteriorate. A police officer in Cancun stated that he was admitted to a private hospital where his condition is thought to be critical.
