Pizza prove costly for influencer Andrew Tate as cops detain him after getting clues from pizza box
Bucharest: Andrew Tate, a divisive social media personality and former professional kickboxer, was detained in Romania late Thursday on charges of human trafficking and rape, according to local media reports.
Tate, a British-US citizen who previously was banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech, was reportedly detained along with his brother Tristan in the Ilfov area north of Romania's capital, Bucharest.
Romania's anti-organised crime agency said in a statement late that four suspects, including two British citizens and two Romanians, were arrested on charges of being part of an organised crime group, human trafficking and rape.
The agency, DIICOT, said the British citizens recruited women who were subjected to "acts of physical violence and mental coercion," sexually exploited by group members and forced to perform in pornography intended to reap "important financial benefits."
The statement did not name the Tate brothers. Photographs published by Romanian media outlets pictured Tate being led away in handcuffs by masked law enforcement officers.
DIICOT said it identified six people who were sexually exploited by the organised criminal group, and that five homes were raided on Thursday. The suspects were detained for 24 hours.
Earlier this week, Tate posted a video on Twitter of a mountainous region of Romania, the Eastern European country where he is reported to have lived for the last five years.
Tate also was embroiled this week in a war of words with 19-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg after he shared a picture of himself standing next to a Bugatti on Twitter and bragged that he owned 33 cars.
Video footage from the police raid accompanying the anti-organised crime agency's statement shows several blurred-out sports cars, wads of cash, and a handgun.
On Wednesday, the British national was told to “get a life” by Thunberg on Twitter after he told her he owned 33 cars with "enormous emissions."
It all began when Tate, a self-described misogynist, bragged about owning “33 cars” and said he is happy to share details about the “enormous emissions” of his cars. Tagging Greta Thunberg, he asked for her email address.
Thunberg, 19, clapped back with a savage reply that became hugely viral. “Yes, please do enlighten me,” she tweeted in response, adding a made-up email address to mock Tate. The fake address ends with “get a life”.
The interaction did not end there. Tate, in turn, shared his response in a video. The two-minute clip has him speaking, wearing a robe and holding a cigar. At one point, he is seen collecting two pizza boxes from someone and placing them on the table.
The boxes, from Jerry’s Pizza – which has outlets in Romania – are suspected to have helped the Romanian authorities track down Andrew Tate, according to several reports.
The Romanian pizza chain appearing in Andrew Tate’s response video to Greta Thunberg was reportedly used as proof for Romanian authorities to confirm his presence in the country, leading to the arrest of him and his brother in a human trafficking probe pic.twitter.com/MD0cved7q5
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Bihar has 'failed' on all parameters during 21 years of NDA rule: Tejashwi
Patna (PTI): Launching a frontal attack on the Bihar government, RJD's national working president, Tejashwi Yadav, on Thursday, alleged that the state has "failed" on all parameters during the 21 years of NDA rule.
His remarks came four days ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar on March 16. Six candidates—five from the ruling NDA and one from the RJD are in the fray for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar.
In a post on X on Thursday, Yadav wrote, "The NDA government failed on all parameters despite years of a double-engine government. Bihar continues to rank at the bottom of most development indicators even after 21 years of NDA rule."
"Bihar is a unique state where the NDA's double-engine government has been in power for decades, yet the state still performs poorly across several socio-economic indicators. Bihar is the poorest state in the country, has the highest migration, the highest levels of crime and corruption, the highest unemployment, the highest level of multidimensional poverty and highest school dropout rate in the country, lowest literacy rate in the country, and the state has the lowest per capita income in the country," he wrote.
He further claimed that Bihar is the state where farmers' income is lowest in the country, lowest per capita consumption in the country, lowest computer literacy in the country, lowest electricity consumption in the country, lowest basic infrastructure in the country, lowest quality education in the country and the lowest industrial units in the country.
Yadav, who is also Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, said the state is lagging in almost every development indicator. He accused the government of avoiding accountability while running the administration through bureaucratic control, state resources and caste politics.
Ironically, despite being lowest on all development parameters, Bihar is leading in buying expensive gas, leading in buying expensive electricity, leading in buying expensive petrol-diesel, and here buying property is more expensive than in Delhi and Mumbai, he alleged.
State BJP spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, refuted the charges levelled by Yadav and told PTI, "RJD leader should have compared the current situation in Bihar with the period between 1990 and 2005 when the state was governed by Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. The condition improved only after the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005."
