Andrew Tate has revived that he wants to live in a country where “corruption is within everyone’s reach”.
Known as a social media provocateur Andrew Tate was arrested in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, late Thursday local time.
In addition to Andrew, the police arrested his brother Tristan’s and two Romanian citizens for a day. In connection with the arrest, the police also raided the brothers’ house, where they found, among other things, firearms.
The four are suspected of human trafficking, rape and the establishment of an organized criminal group, the Romanian police informs.
The group has been under criminal investigation since April of this year.
According to prosecutors, the purpose of the suspected criminal group was to recruit, house and exploit women by forcing them to produce pornographic content that was intended to be sold online for a fee.
The prosecutors say they have reached six women who are suspected to have been exploited by the four.
As of Friday afternoon, there was no further information on the progress of the investigation or whether Tate and the other suspects are still in custody.
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Romania’s low standard of living encourages human trafficking
British-American former kickboxer Andrew Tate, 36, is known for blatantly misogynistic remarks. Tate has received multiple bans on all major social media platforms.
Tate has been living in Romania since 2017. He said (you switch to another service) last summer that he wanted to live in a country where “corruption is within everyone’s reach”.
Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, has struggled with human trafficking for a long time. In Romania, human trafficking focuses on the forced prostitution of women and children.
According to the statistics of the European Commission, 596 people fell victim to human trafficking in Romania in 2020, of which almost half were transported abroad.
There are probably significantly more victims than the numbers in official statistics.
According to EU statistics, almost 80 percent of victims of human trafficking in Romania are women. About three quarters are victims of sexual abuse.
Victims are trafficked from Romania, especially to other EU countries. The most common destinations are Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
– The main reason is the financial situation. Compared to Western European countries, the standard of living in Romania is low, says the crime commissioner of the Helsinki Police Department Hannu Kortelainen To .
In Finland, Kortelainen leads a national investigation team specializing in human trafficking.
International Monetary Fund statistics (you switch to another service) according to Romania’s GDP per inhabitant is the second lowest in the EU after Bulgaria.
Romania is trying to curb human trafficking
However, in the light of EU statistics, Romania’s situation has improved. The number of reported victims of human trafficking was almost halved in the 2010s.
Also the US State Department by (you switch to another service) Last year, Romania intensified its efforts to prevent human trafficking.
For example, the report noted that during the past year, Romania had increased investigations into human trafficking cases and brought charges and sentenced several human traffickers.
Kortelainen says that from the point of view of Finland, however, Romania’s measures have so far not reduced the human trafficking of Romanians observed in Finland.
– The amount has been pretty much constant for the last few years.
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