Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania as part of a rape and human trafficking investigation, according to reports.
The controversial online influencer and his brother Tristan were detained after officers raided his house in Bucharest on Thursday. Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) issued a statement, but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a criminal group focused on human trafficking.
A lawyer for the brothers told Reuters that the pair had been detained. Tate, 36, rose to fame this year for his sexist and misogynistic views.
"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.
"They would have gained important sums of money."
READ MORE: Inside the city centre sex trade which has taken over from massage parlours
Tate was the most-searched man on the internet earlier this year before he was banned from social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, as well as YouTube. His Twitter account was restored when Elon Musk completed his takeover of the tech giant and Tate resumed posting immediately.
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