Andrew Tate and brother Tristan arrested in connection to human trafficking allegations

A pizza box from a Romanian take-away chain in Tate’s video response to climate activist Greta Thunberg is thought to have led authorities to raid his luxury villa over human trafficking and rape allegations.

Andrew Tate, brother Tristan arrested in relation to human trafficking charges.

A pizza box from a Romanian pizza chain is thought to have led police to Andrew Tate’s luxury villa where the online influencer and his brother, Tristan, were ­arrested in connection to human trafficking and rape ­allegations.

Andrew, 36, a former kick­boxer, and Tristan were arrested on Thursday morning local time by officers from the Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism and taken into custody. According to “judicial sources” speaking with Romanian outlet Libertatea, the Tates’ home was raided by police following an ­investigation into the abduction of two women in April, one American and the other Romanian, allegedly found in Mr Tate’s Voluntari villa. The women were allegedly held against their will by the Tate brothers.

The brothers were reportedly being questioned alongside a former policewoman suspected of being involved in the ­alleged human trafficking. Her home was also raided.

Prosecutors said in a statement five homes had been raided after police obtained search warrants with regards to an ongoing investigation into an organised criminal group, international human trafficking and rape.

“At the beginning of 2021, four suspects – two British citizens and two Romanian citizens – constituted a criminal group organised in order to commit on the territory of Romania the crime of human trafficking,” prosecutors said.

It was also alleged the women had been forced to produce pornographic material. “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.”

Police said six victims had been identified. It is understood police realised the brothers were in Romania when they examined a video posted online.

The video, produced by Andrew Tate, featured a box from a popular Romanian pizza chain.

The social media post was made in response to a comment from climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Mr Tate had called out Ms Thunberg in a Twitter post in which he boasted about his collection of supercars and the emissions they produced. “I have 33 cars,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “Please provide your email ­address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”

A day later, Ms Thunberg ­replied: “Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldick­[e-mail].”

Mr Tate gained notoriety this year with a series of social media posts in which he shared his misogynistic views.

He rose to prominence after appearing on the Big Brother TV show in the UK in 2016, when he was forced to leave the series after a video surfaced of him whipping a woman with a belt.

In 2017 he said women should “bear some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, after which Twitter banned him from the platform.

He was then banned by Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, in August this year for violating its policies “on dangerous organisations and individuals”.