Former professional boxer and questionable website personality Andrew Tate was arrested Thursday in Romania, along with his brother, the country’s organized crime unit told CBS News on Friday. The unit requested that what was intended to be a one-day detention be extended for 30 days. .
Reuters and the media were the first to report on the arrests.
Romanian prosecutors said in a statement received via CBS News that warrants were executed at several homes Thursday due to suspicions of “a group of organized criminals” involved in “human trafficking and rape. “
The organized crime organization was formed through 4 suspects in early 2021 with the goal of “committing” human trafficking in Romania, the United States, and the United Kingdom to “obtain significant monetary benefits,” prosecutors said.
Six were discovered sexually exploited through the organized crime group, according to prosecutors.
Two British and two Romanian nationals were arrested, prosecutors said, and taken to the headquarters of the organized crime unit in Bucharest.
The British citizens are Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, the organized crime unit CBS News.
Former professional boxer and questionable website personality Andrew Tate arrested in Romania on Thursday, along with his brother, the country’s organized crime unit said. https://t. co/tplB6kNf20
Once questioned, they would be detained for 24 hours, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors then asked Friday that they be detained for 30 days.
Reuters said the photo and others it had received show Tate escorted outside the headquarters of the organized crime unit on Thursday.
“The four suspects appear to have created an organized criminal organization with the aim of recruiting, harboring and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content intended for viewing on specialized internet sites in exchange for a fee,” prosecutors said in a statement to Reuters.
The brothers have been investigated by thieves since April, Reuters reported.
Andrew Tate commented Friday on Twitter, invoking the insignificant term he uses to refer to what he believes are culture and governments, referring to the old film of the same name.
Andrew Tate, who was born in the United States but grew up in Britain, is known for spreading hate speech, misogyny and violence. In August, it banned Facebook and Instagram for violating Meta’s policies on harmful organizations and individuals. Posting on YouTube also banned.
In 2017, he was suspended from Twitter for saying women “bear a responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, as allegations came in against the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. He returned to Twitter last month after Elon Musk took over the company.
Earlier this week, Tate had a Twitter spat with activist Greta Thunberg.
Reacting to the report on Tate’s arrest, Thunberg tweeted Friday: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle pizza boxes. “
This story was originally published via CBS News on December 30, 2022.
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