Controversial influencer arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and rape

Controversial British-American influencer Andrew Tate has been arrested in Romania on suspicion of rape and human trafficking. This was confirmed by the special unit of the Romanian public prosecutor's office responsible for organized crime, DIICOT, on Friday of the dpa.

Tate's brother and two Romanians were also arrested after DIICOT conducted five house searches in Bucharest and the surrounding area. The four suspects are said to have trafficked in human beings in Romania and also in the USA and Great Britain since the beginning of 2021 and forced women into prostitution.

According to a statement by DIICOT, the six victims identified so far were recruited using the so-called loverboy method. They were lured with promises of love and marriage. After that, the women and girls were held with violence and intimidation in different apartments around Bucharest. There they were forced to have sex and appear in pornographic videos, which were then shared on social media. One of the victims was also raped twice by one of those arrested.

The British newspaper "Daily Mirror" quoted a spokesman for Tate as saying that details of reports about the arrest could not be given at the moment. "However, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will help where they can."

Andrew Tate recently had a skirmish with climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter. Tate, who repeatedly attracts attention with misogynistic statements, had boasted about the number of his cars and wrote to Thunberg: "Please give me your email address so that I can send you a complete list of my car collection and the enormous emissions."

The pioneer of the global climate protection movement Fridays for Future reacted on Wednesday: "Yes, please enlighten me, write to me at kleinpenisenergie@hastdunichtsbessereszutun.com." From the point of view of many Twitter users, that was the case - on Friday morning Thunberg's post had 3.2 million "likes". me" - the post of the former kickboxer a good 200,000.

Tate then taunted the 19-year-old in a cigar-smoking video. A pizza box from Romania can also be seen in the video. With regard to media reports that this pizza box gave an indication of Tate's whereabouts, the spokeswoman for the DIICOT public prosecutor's office said when asked by dpa: "These are amusing speculations." It is not true that the box played a role in the arrest.

Thunberg meanwhile followed up on Twitter and wrote on Friday: "This is what happens when you don't recycle your pizza boxes." Within minutes, the tweet was approved tens of thousands of times with "likes".