Romanian police raid Andrew Tate's Romanian home over human trafficking allegations. Video / DIICOT
Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has reportedly been arrested alongside his brother Tristan in Romania over allegations of human trafficking and rape.
Romanian media reported that police raided the brothers’ villa in the town of Voluntari, north of the capital Bucharest, and took both men into custody.
Romanian outlet Libertatea said the brothers will be questioned by the country’s organised crime unit, DIICOT.
The Tates’ home was previously raided over similar allegations in April.
In a statement, police said they raided five homes in connection to an investigation into an organised criminal group, international human trafficking, and rape.
Police did not name the suspects but said that “two British citizens” recruited women who were moved to buildings in and around Voluntari and subjected to “physical violence and mental coercion” and forced to perform in pornographic videos, which were later distributed online.
It has been previously reported that the Tates set up a webcam business in Romania and Andrew Tate has bragged that “40 per cent” of the reason he moved to the country was to avoid police scrutiny.
Video released by DIICOT shows police raiding properties and shows collections of vehicles, weapons, and cash.
Details, such as the identity of suspects, appear to have been deliberately obscured.
‘Small d*** energy’
It was first believed that cops moved on the Tates after Andrew Tate posed with a Romanian takeaway pizza box in a video he posted to climate activist Greta Thunberg.
“My Bugatti has a w16 8.0L quad-turbo. My TWO Ferrari 812 competizione have 6.5L v12s. This is just the start.
“Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”
Greta Thunberg brought Andrew Tate down to size. Photo / Getty Images/File
After stewing on it for over a day, Thunberg responded late on Wednesday night.
“Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalld**kenergy@getalife.com,” she replied to Tate.
“How dare you?!,” a humiliated Tate later wrote back, mocking her iconic catchphrase.
Oops. Photo / Twitter/Andrew Tate
Then the self-described ‘Top G’ recorded a video on Thursday that he sent to Thunberg, which showed him posing with a Romanian takeaway pizza box. On Friday the cops came knocking.
Police raid a property connected to the investigation. Photo / DIICOT
Police speak to a man outside one of the raided properties. Photo / DIICOT
Tate has styled himself as a self-help guru, offering his mostly male fans a recipe for making money and “pulling” women.
But his critics accused him of being an “extreme misogynist” and calls to ban him over videos spreading “rape culture” began to emerge.
In one clip shared on TikTok, Tate argues women “belong in the home”, “can’t drive”, and are a “man’s property”.
Another, arguably one of his most troubling statements, sees Tate declare that while it was “not okay” for a woman to be raped, if she was, then she “must bear some responsibility”.
Long before his rise to social media fame, Tate’s views on women have been clear.
He was evicted from the UK Big Brother house in 2016 when a video emerged of him hitting a woman with a belt; a second, released shortly after, showed him telling a different woman to count the bruises he apparently caused her.
