Andrew Tate detained in Romania on rape and human trafficking charges

Ex-kickboxer and online influencer Andrew Tate was detained in Romania in connection to an alleged human trafficking case, Reuters reported Friday.

Tate will be detained for 24 hours, alongside his brother Tristan and two other suspects from Romania. The arrests come after a Romanian anti-organised-crime unit raided Tate's properties, where they found six women who are alleged to have been sexually exploited by the suspects.

"The four suspects ... appear to have created an organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost," the prosecutors said.

A press release by Romania's Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), dated Dec. 29, says five home search warrants were implemented in a case investigating "the crimes of constituting an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape." The press release doesn't list any names but mentions four suspects, two of which are British citizens, and the other two Romanian citizens.

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SEE ALSO: Who is Andrew Tate? And why is the controversial figure taking over TikTok?

Tate, who has millions of social media followers, has gained notoriety for his misogynistic comments, which resulted in him getting banned from major social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube (some of the bans were later lifted). He earns money by selling an online course called "Hustler's University 2.0," and runs an adult webcam business called "myfreecams." Originally operated out of the UK, Tate's myfreecams business resulted in a raid by the UK authorities after one of the women working for the site alleged Tate had hit her. In a YouTube video dated May 2021, Tate said he then moved to Romania where the laws aren't as strict.

Tate's clash with Greta Thunberg may have backfired

Tate made headlines just days ago after an online spat with activist Greta Thunberg, in which he boasted his many expensive cars with "enormous emissions."

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• Who is Andrew Tate? And why is the controversial figure taking over TikTok?
• Andrew Tate is now also banned from YouTube
• Controversial influencer Andrew Tate banned from Facebook and Instagram

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Unverified online rumours circulated in the immediate aftermath of Tate's arrest that Romanian police may have learned about Tate’s whereabouts from a video he posted as a reply to Thunberg, as the pizza boxes seen in the video appear to be from a Romanian pizza place. The BBC has since reported that "this is not believed to be the case." Tate, who has been under investigation since April, tweeted about Romania a week ago, which may have given a clue to the authorities about his whereabouts.

If you have experienced sexual abuse, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access the 24-7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.