Former professional kickboxer and controversial internet personality Andrew Tate was detained in Romania Thursday, along with his brother, the country’s anti-organized crime unit.
Prosecutors have asked the 24-hour detention be extended by 30 days.
Tate was arrested within 24 hours of posting a video to climate activist Greta Thunberg which may have tipped prosecutors off to his location, in a residential district north of Bucharest.
Romanian prosecutors said in a statement that search warrants were carried out in several homes Thursday on the outskirts of Bucharest due to suspicions of „an organized criminal group” involved in „human trafficking and rape.”
The organized crime group was formed by four suspects in early 2021 with „a view to committing” human trafficking in Romania, the U.S. and U.K. in order to „obtain important financial benefits,” prosecutors said.
Six women have been found who were sexually exploited by the organized crime group, according to prosecutors. „The four suspects … appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost,” prosecutors said in a statement to Reuters.
The two brothers have been under criminal investigation since April.
Andrew Tate, who was born in the U.S. but raised in Britain, is known for spreading hate speech, misogyny and violence.
In August, he was banned from Facebook and Instagram for violating Meta’s policies on dangerous organizations and individuals. He has also been banned from posting to YouTube.
Earlier this week, he got into a Twitter feud with climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In response to the report about Tate’s arrest, Thunberg tweeted Friday, „this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”
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