Feds fight to keep suspected Swedish criminal kingpin behind bars pending deportation

Lawyers for Canada’s Ministry of Public Safety will be in Federal Court Thursday, trying to prevent the release from immigration custody of a man accused of orchestrating a wave of drug-related violence rocking one of Sweden’s largest cities.

Roman Tryfonenko was detained Jan. 9 on a layover at Vancouver airport after Canada Border Services Agency officers learned he was believed to be the leader of ‘T-Phalanx’ — a gang linked to daytime shootings and bombings in the port city of Gothenburg.

Ottawa has cleared the way to deport the 29-year-old to Sweden, but officials are now fighting to overturn a decision by an Immigration and Refugee Board member last month who ordered Tryfonenko released on strict conditions pending his removal from Canada.

According to court documents, the Ministry of Public Safety argues that Tryfonenko — who has been accused of running a proxy war from outside Sweden — presents too great a public risk and is unlikely to show up for return to a country where he has claimed his life will be at risk.

Releasing [Tryfonenko] would jeopardize the integrity of the immigration system, the government said in arguments to support its bid for a judicial review of the release decision.

[He] poses a significant danger to the public and a flight risk.

From socialist paradise to ‘homicide hotspot’

The case shines a light on the gang violence that has turned a Scandinavian country once lauded as a socialist paradise into the homicide hotspot portrayed in one of the media articles on Sweden’s gang war, included in the court files.

According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, gun violence has increased Sweden’s homicide rate to one of the highest in Europe, at approximately four deaths per million inhabitants per year. The average for the continent is 1.6 deaths per million inhabitants.

Tryfonenko was travelling from Bangkok to Mexico on a Swedish passport when he was flagged for detention by a Europol notice.

He was carrying a Belgian passport and two driver’s licences in different names in his luggage. He later told CBSA officers he bought them on the dark web out of fear for his safety because he was being pursued by a criminal organization.

Born in Ukraine, Tryfonenko has admitted a criminal past that saw him serve two stretches in jail for drug offences, but vehemently denies being a kingpin — saying no underlying evidence has ever been provided by CBSA to prove that he is a leader of a criminal gang.

A man known as ‘Jordgubben’ — ‘The Strawberry’

Swedish Police Authority documents paint a different picture.

Roman Tryfonenko has been well known to the Swedish police for many years, a letter sent to CBSA reads.

Tryfonenko is currently considered the leader of one of the most active criminal groups in the Greater Gothenburg area.

Roman Tryfonenko was carrying fake driver’s licences in his luggage when he was detained at Vancouver’s airport. He later claimed he bought them on the dark web out of fear for his safety. (Federal Court) Photo: (Federal Court)

Tryfonenko was travelling from Bangkok to Mexico on a Swedish passport when he was flagged for detention by a Europol notice.

He was carrying a Belgian passport and two driver’s licences in different names in his luggage. He later told CBSA officers he bought them on the dark web out of fear for his safety because he was being pursued by a criminal organization.

Born in Ukraine, Tryfonenko has admitted a criminal past that saw him serve two stretches in jail for drug offences, but vehemently denies being a kingpin — saying no underlying evidence has ever been provided by CBSA to prove that he is a leader of a criminal gang.

A man known as ‘Jordgubben’ — ‘The Strawberry’

Swedish Police Authority documents paint a different picture.

Roman Tryfonenko has been well known to the Swedish police for many years, a letter sent to CBSA reads.

Tryfonenko is currently considered the leader of one of the most active criminal groups in the Greater Gothenburg area.

This article is republished from RCI.