A Romanian court on Friday night extended the detention of former kickboxer Andrew Tate by 30 days after he was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group, Reuters confirmed for the first time.
Tate was arrested on Thursday along with his brother Tristan and two other suspects after Romanian authorities raided their properties in Bucharest and detained them for 24 hours.
Prosecutors then petitioned the court to extend his detention.
In this still taken from video posted by Observator Antena 1, social media personality Andrew Tate is taken away by police in the Ilfov area, north of Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday, December 29, 2022.
(Antenna 1 Observer via AP)
THUNBERG SWEEPS ANDREW TATE Amid HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES ON TWITTER
Tate’s lawyer, Eugen Constantin Vidineac, reportedly responded to the court’s decision, telling reporters: “From our perspective, there is no reason… to take this drastic preventive measure, but it is the prerogative of the judge.” .
Tate and his three alleged associates had reportedly been under criminal investigation since April after they were suspected of being involved in a human trafficking scheme in which at least six women were sexually exploited.
“The four suspects… appear to have created an organized crime group for the purpose of recruiting, harboring and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content intended for viewing on specialized websites for a fee,” prosecutors said. “They would have earned significant sums of money.”
Reports on Friday suggested that Tate’s renewed social media presence on Twitter may have led to his own arrest.
Eugen Constantin Vidineac, lawyer, gives a short press release after defending Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate in court, in Bucharest, Romania, on December 30, 2022.
(Photos Inquam/Cosmin Enache via REUTERS)
ANDREW TATE ARRESTED IN ROMANIA ON SUSPECT OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: REPORTS
The former kickboxer and controversial internet personality had been banned from Twitter for posting hateful and misogynistic comments before billionaire Elon Musk reinstated him last month.
Tate sparked a Twitter spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg by posting a photo of himself filling up his Bugatti before asking for her email address so he could “send a full list of [his] collection of cars and their respective huge emissions”.
Thunberg responded and said, “Yes, please enlighten me. Email me at smalld—energy@getalife.com.”
The activist’s response prompted Tate to appear in a video on his Twitter wearing a red robe, smoking a cigar and receiving a pizza order before proceeding to berate Thunberg.
Tate also told the unseen person who delivered the pizza to make sure the “boxes [were] not recycled”.
But according to some reports, the boxes of “Jerry’s Pizza” alerted the Romanian authorities to the fact that he was in the country.
Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers out of the Bucharest Directorate of Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) headquarters after being detained for 24 hours, in Bucharest, Romania, December 29, 2022.
(Reuters)
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Fox News Digital was unable to independently verify that Tate’s pizza delivery led to his subsequent arrest.
Thunberg took to Twitter early Friday morning to say: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle pizza boxes.”
