Romanian police arrested on Thursday afternoon in Bucharest former boxer and streamer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, both under investigation for allegedly committing crimes such as forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking and rape.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) has issued a 24-hour arrest warrant after the Tate brothers were charged by the country’s Prosecutor’s Office with forming an organized criminal group that recruited, housed and forced women to create pornographic materials for further distribution, Romania TV has reported.
With the help of two other Romanian nationals – also arrested in this raid – the alleged criminal organization lured women in the United States and the United Kingdom to Romania, feigning amorous reciprocity and promising a marriage relationship.
The victims were then transported and housed in buildings in the Romanian county of Ilfov, where, after allegedly suffering acts of physical violence and mental coercion, they were sexually exploited by members of the group, forcing them to perform pornographic demonstrations for subsequent dissemination on social networks.
In addition, one of the victims was forced on two different occasions by a suspect – and through physical violence and psychological pressure – to have sexual intercourse.
So far, Romanian police have identified six victims who were sexually exploited by the organized criminal group in which the Tate brothers allegedly participated, according to a statement. Two of them testified in April 2022, after which the brothers were interrogated and released shortly after, ‘Adevarul’ reported.
With these activities, Andrew and Tristan would have obtained significant sums of money with which they would have bought houses, luxury cars and cryptocurrencies.
THE AUTHORITIES HAVE EXPECTED THE RETURN TO ROMANIA OF TATE Andrew and Tristan, both British citizens with occasional residence in Romania, have been raided in a house in the town of Voluntari, in the outskirts of the Romanian capital, after the Police have been able to prove that they were in the country, the Romanian daily ‘Gandul’ has learned.
For nine months, the anti-mafia prosecutors have been collecting all the evidence taken from the villa of the Tate brothers, located on the outskirts of Bucharest, in order to prove that the accusations made during the hearings by their alleged victims were real.
Sources close to the investigation, according to the above-mentioned newspaper, have reported that the Police were waiting for the moment of the brothers’ return to Romania in order to find them, since they are usually out of the country.
After seeing, even on social networks, that they were together in Romania, DIICOT prosecutors mobilized special troops of the Gendarmerie and ascended, by force, in their villa, in addition to other addresses.
The arrest has taken place after the ex-boxer posted a video on social networks and in which he responded to a taunt from the young environmentalist Greta Thunberg, all while eating pizza from a popular Romanian pizzeria chain.
In that video, in which Tate lashes out against Thunberg for his defense of the fight against climate change, as well as in other messages on Twitter published by the ‘influencer’, he made it clear that he was in Romania, all after having been in the United States and participating in the transmission on Twitch of the also ‘streamer’ Adin Ross.
THE DISCUSSION WITH GRETA THUNBERG PRIOR TO HIS ARREST Days before his arrest, Andrew Tate had written a message on Twitter to environmentalist Greta Thunberg boasting of having 33 cars and stating that he would send her a complete list with the respective gas emissions of each of them.
«Hi Greta Thunberg. I have 33 cars. My Bugatti has a quad turbo W16 8.0L. My two Ferrari 812s have 6.5L v12s (…) Provide your email address so I can send you a complete list of my car collection and their respective emissions,» the tweet wields.
In response, the environmental activist said, «Yes, please enlighten me. Email me at energíadepenepequeño@comprateunavida.com.»
Following Thunberg’s provocative message, which reached more than half a million retweets and three million ‘likes’ on Twitter, Tate responded again with a video of himself sitting in a cabin and smoking a cigar.
«Releasing greenhouse gases,» he begins the video, as he blows smoke while smoking. «I’m actually mad at Greta. Please bring me pizza (she says to a person not shown in the video), but make sure the cardboard hasn’t been recycled,» Tate wields in the counter-reply to the activist.
«I’m angry at Greta because she doesn’t realize she’s been duped and doesn’t realize she’s a slave to the ‘Matrix.’ She thinks she’s doing good. Someone needs to take her down from there,» she continues, holding the Jerry’s Pizza chain pizza box, a hint that she was at the time in Romania.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
