Ex-Kickboxer Andrew Tate Detained In Romania, Faces Human Trafficking Charges

Controversial social media personality Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group. According to Reuters, Mr Tate was detained alongside his brother Tristan and two Romanian suspects after his house was raided in the capital, Bucharest. 

"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, according to Reuters.

A video released by Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and shared on Twitter showed guns, knives and money on display in one room of Mr Tate's house.

#AndrewTate tf is going on @Cobratate 🐐 pic.twitter.com/Q22Al2ASBh

— 🫡🅲🆈🅿🅷🅴🆁🅿🆄🅽🅺🆉 (@Rendondaguost) December 29, 2022

The two brothers and the other two suspects will be detained for 24 hours. Prosecutors found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects. However, Mr Tate reportedly stated that the women are partially responsible for being raped and that they belong to men. 

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Meanwhile, this comes after the former kickboxer got embroiled in a war of words on Twitter with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. Mr Tate, who has been banned from several social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, was told to get a life by the 19-year-old after he told her he owned 33 cars with "enormous emissions". 

On Wednesday, he then responded to Ms Thunberg in a video, in which he was seen smoking a cigar in a silk robe and questioning the teenage climate activist's gender. Mr Tate also insulted Ms Thunberg with hateful remarks. 

According to the BBC, Mr Tate rose to fame in 2016 as a guest on the British reality show 'Big Brother'. But he was soon removed after a video was circulated, which appeared to show him hitting a woman with a belt. At the time, Mr Tate said that the video had been edited, and called it a "total lie". 

The British national then went on to gain notoriety online. He was banned from Twitter and other social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, for his misogynistic posts. Elon Musk rescinded Mr Tate's Twitter ban just a month ago.