Andrew Tate was arrested in Romania on suspicion of rape and human trafficking.

Andrew Tate, a controversial online influencer, has been arrested in Romania as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation.

Tate's house in Bucharest, where he was detained alongside his brother Tristan, was raided.

 

The arrests were confirmed by a police spokesperson to the BBC.

 

The former kickboxer rose to prominence in 2016 after being booted from British TV show Big Brother due to a video that appeared to show him assaulting a woman.

 

He went on to become well-known online, to Twitter banning him for saying that women should "bear responsibility" for sexual assault. He was later reinstated.

 

Despite social media bans, he rose to prominence by promoting an ultra-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle, particularly among young men.

 

He was frequently seen in videos driving a fleet of expensive sports cars, flying on private jets, and taking expensive vacations.

 

A spokesperson for the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) told the BBC that prosecutors had applied to keep the influencer in a "detention centre" for an additional 30 days.

 

A judge will rule on the application on Friday afternoon, according to the spokesperson. The brothers, along with two Romanian nationals, have been under investigation since April.

 

"The four suspects... appear to have formed an organised crime group with the goal of recruiting, housing, and exploiting women by compelling them to create pornographic content for viewing on specialised websites for a fee," DIICOT said in a statement.

 

Tate and his brother were seen being led away from the luxury villa in a video posted on social media.

 

Tate's spokesperson told the Daily Mirror that he was unable to provide any information about the arrest. "However, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the highest regard for Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can," he added.

 

Later, a tweet was sent from Andrew Tate's Twitter account referencing the 1999 film The Matrix, which he frequently mentions in his posts.

"The Matrix sent their agents," according to the post. Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, also retweeted Matrix memes.

On Thursday night, Directorate of Romania for investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism issued a statement, but in a statement he did not name the Tate brothers, in a statement he said two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a human trafficking group.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            According to the statement, officers identified six people who were "sexually exploited" by an "organised criminal group.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Police alleged the sufferers (Victims) were "recruited" with the aid of using British citizens, who they stated had misrepresented their intention to go right into a relationship with the sufferers - which they called "the loverboy method." They were later forced to act under threat of violence against pornographic content, the statement said.

 

Police also released video of the raid, showing guns, knives and money were in the rooms. Tate moved to Romania five years ago.

 

Rumors circulated online that police were alerted to Tate's presence in the country when he released a video targeting environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

 

In the pictures he posted, he was holding a pizza box from a local restaurant, which some users claimed accidentally revealed its location. It won't, however, assume the pizza box is relevant.

 

 The row with the activist began earlier this week when 36-year-old Tate tagged 19-year-old in a post describing the "enormous emissions" and bragging about who produced his fleet of cars. After the arrest, she tweeted "this is what happens when you don't recycle pizza boxes," referencing rumors online. Before his worldwide fame, Tate, a US-born British national, fought professionally as a kickboxer and won world titles.

 

 In 2016, he joined the Big Brother house. but was soon removed after video surfaced showing him hitting a woman with a belt. At the time of its removal, Tate said the video had been edited, calling it a "total lie, trying to make me do it badly." Mr. Tate was banned from social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and TikTok also removed him, saying, "Misogyny is a hateful ideology that will not be tolerated.

 

" He was from Twitter being suspended, but was recently allowed back onto the platform following the Elon Musk takeover.