Andrew Tate detained in Romania over rape and human trafficking case

An investigation into rape and human trafficking led to the detention of controversial online influencer Andrew Tate in Romania.

In Bucharest, the capital, Mr. Tate's home was searched while he and his brother Tristan were being held captive.

According to Reuters, a lawyer for the boys confirmed their imprisonment.

The former kickboxer gained notoriety in 2016 after being removed from the British television program Big Brother because of a video that purported to show him assaulting a woman.

As a result of his comments that women should "carry responsibility" for being sexually assaulted, he later gained prominence online and was banned from Twitter. He was later given a second chance.

"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, according to the Reuters news agency.

The brothers have been under investigation since April alongside two Romanian nationals.

Video circulated widely on social media appears to show Mr Tate and his brother being led away from a luxury villa.

Two British and two Romanian citizens were suspected of belonging to a criminal organization that specialized in human trafficking, according to a statement from Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), which did not mention the Tate brothers by name.

According to the statement, authorities had discovered six victims of "sexual exploitation" by what was described as a "organized criminal cell." Police claimed that the British nationals "recruited" the victims by lying about their desire to date them, a practice they referred to as "the loverboy method."

The statement said that later on, under threat of violence, they were made to perform in pornographic content.

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

Mr Tate moved to Romania five years ago.

Rumours had swirled online that police had been tipped off to Mr Tate's presence in the country after he posted a video taking aim at the environmental activist Greta Thunberg. However, this is not believed to be the case.

In the footage he posted, he was handed a pizza box from a local restaurant, which some users suggested had inadvertently revealed his location to officers.

The row with Ms Thunberg began earlier this week when Mr Tate tagged the 19-year-old activist in a post boasting about the "enormous emissions" produced by his fleet of cars.

Following the arrest, Ms Thunberg tweeted "this is what happens when you don't recycle your pizza boxes," referring to the online rumour.

Mr. Tate, a British citizen who was born in the US, competed professionally in kickboxing and won world championships before becoming well-known worldwide.

He entered the Big Brother house in 2016, but was quickly sent out after a video surfaced that purported to show him slapping a woman with a belt.

When he was kicked off the show, Mr. Tate claimed that the footage had been altered and described it as "a pure fake attempting to make me appear terrible."

As a result of his comments that women should "carry responsibility" for being sexually assaulted, he later gained prominence online and was banned from Twitter.

With the statement that "misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated," Mr. Tate has been blocked from social media sites including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. TikTok has also removed him.

He had been blocked from Twitter, but after Elon Musk took control, he was recently permitted to return.

The BBC's disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring stated earlier this year that his writing has "raised worries about the real-world effect it could have." His posts on other online forums advocate bigotry, target women, and receive millions of views.