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Andrew Tate, a 36-year-old controversial influencer and former professional kickboxer, has been detained alongside his brother on Dec. 29, according to Romanian authorities, Reuters reported.

Suspected of criminal activities

He and his brother, Tristan Tate, were arrested with two other Romanian suspects on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and formation of a criminal organisation after a raid was reportedly carried out in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

The Tate brothers have reportedly been under investigation since April 2022.

Romanian prosecutors said that the four detainees were suspected of creating a criminal group for “the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women” to create pornographic content.

The authorities also said that six women were found to have been sexually exploited by the suspects.

Greta Thunberg deals a blow

Tate's arrest comes after a Twitter spat with 19-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg earlier in the week.

Tate tweeted on Dec. 27 of him posing with one of his sportscars, in an attempt to taunt Thunberg about the carbon emissions of his 33 cars.

He mockingly asked her to provide her email address for him to send “a complete list of [his] car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”

Hello @GretaThunberg

I have 33 cars.

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. pic.twitter.com/ehhOBDQyYU

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 27, 2022

Thunberg was seemingly unfazed and replied to his tweet on Dec. 28 with a made-up email address “smalld*[email protected]”, indirectly implying that Tate should get a life instead. Her tweet had garnered more than three million likes at the time of writing.

yes, please do enlighten me. email me at [email protected] https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022

In response to Thunberg’s tweet, Tate proceeded to post a two-minute video of himself ranting about the activist while smoking a cigar.

The video also showed two boxes of locally-bought pizza being delivered to him, which had reportedly given away his whereabouts to the Romanian authorities.

Thank you for confirming via your email address that you have a small penis @GretaThunberg

The world was curious.

And I do agree you should get a life ❤️ https://t.co/mHmiKHjDGH pic.twitter.com/SMisajQRcf

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 28, 2022

Following this, the Romanian police reportedly raided Tate's luxury villa in Bucharest and detained him and his brother.

A controversial personality

Tate has been banned from multiple social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram due to his advocacy of misogyny and instances of hate speech.

According to BBC, he first rose to fame in 2016 after being removed from a British TV show, Big Brother, over a video that showed him attacking a woman with a belt.

He then gained a notorious online presence, with Twitter previously banning him for stating that women should “bear responsibility” for sexual assault at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, according to NBC News.

However, his Twitter account was later reinstated after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform.

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Top images via Getty/Kate Green & Twitter/@Cobratate