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."

Swedish police claim Tryfonenko is "involved in large-scale narcotics import and collaborates" with a man known as 'Jordgubben'  — 'The Strawberry' — "who is another leading figure within violent and drug-related crime."

The document details a series of violent offences, including explosions, that culminated in the murder of two young men in Gothenburg in February 2024 in what authorities believe was "possibly" an attack on a "high-ranked individual with close ties to Tryfonenko."

"After the double murder, at least 15 shootings and explosions took place that are considered acts of revenge against individuals and their relatives," the Swedish police letter says.

"The attacks are likely planned and instigated by Tryfonenko, who has been abroad for some time now and runs a proxy war from abroad ... The modus operandi is to remotely hire young perpetrators to detonate bombs, carry out shootings or deploy bombs. After the task has been carried out, a compensation is sent to the perpetrator."

Lacking 'meaningful analysis'

According to CBSA documents, Tryfonenko has been living in Spain since around 2021, when he was last released from jail. His passport is peppered with stamps from Colombia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Tryfonenko — who claims members of his old gang now want to kill him — was willing to return to Spain. But the government wants to deport him to Sweden, where he's suspected of money laundering offences.

At his last immigration detention hearing, Immigration and Refugee Board member Colleen Zuk agreed Tryfonenko was a threat to the public — although she said the case was "borderline."

And she also agreed he represented a flight risk.

But Zuk said the length of his detention appears to have been prolonged because authorities insist on sending him to Sweden instead of Spain.

As such, she found he could be released to live with a friend who put up a $10,000 bond and agreed to conditions including the wearing of an ankle monitoring bracelet and a promise to stay off the dark web.

In their arguments, the government's lawyers claim Zuk's ruling is unreasonable, saying they lack "meaningful analysis" of the person who put up the bond, the "sufficiency" of the bond and "[Tryfonenko's] significant resources and connections with international criminal organizations."

Last week, a federal court judge stayed the release decision pending a judicial review of the release order on Thursday.