Andrew Tate detained in Romania over human trafficking and rape investigation

Social media influencer Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania, as part of an investigation into human trafficking and rape.

The former kickboxer was held alongside his brother Tristan and two other suspects while 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,” prosecutors said. “They would have gained important sums of money.”

Prosecutors said they had found six women who had been sexually exploited by the suspects.

Romanian prosecutors asked a Bucharest court on Friday to extend the detention of Tate by 30 days.

Tate, banned from many social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, and his brother will be detained for 24 hours. The siblings have been under investigation since April alongside two Romanian nationals.

Footage shows Tate, who moved to Romania five years ago, and his sibling being led away from a luxury villa.

Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) earlier issued a statement, but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a criminal group focused on human trafficking.

He has declined to comment but his lawyer has confirmed he has been detained

Prosecutors also released a video of the raid, showing guns, knives, and money on display in one room.

Since retiring from combat sports, Tate, 36, has received attention for his misogynistic online commentary.

He gained notoriety in 2016 when he was removed from British TV show Big Brother over a video that appeared to show him hitting a woman with a belt.

In 2017, he was banned on Twitter for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, but was reinstated last month.

Earlier in the week, Tate sparked a war of words with 19-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg when he shared a picture of himself standing next to a Bugatti and claimed he owned 33 cars.

“Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions,” he tweeted, tagging Ms Thunberg.

In less than a day, more than two million people have liked a post from Ms Thunberg in response to the influencer where the 19-year-old said: “Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.”

Tate filmed a response video after the activist’s tweet, telling Ms Thunberg, a Nobel Prize nominee and TIME person of the year, to “get a life”.

In the video, Mr Tate smokes a cigar in a robe, holds a pizza box and makes an insulting remark about Ms Thunberg’s gender identity.

“She doesn’t realise she’s been programmed,” he says in the clip. “She doesn’t realise she’s a slave of the Matrix.”