How Andrew Tate's Beef With Greta Thunberg May Have Led to His Arrest

Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania reportedly in connection with a human-trafficking investigation, and his arrest may be the result of his brutal Twitter exchange with Greta Thunberg.

Social media users think Andrew Tate's ego led to his arrest in Romania after he didn't back down in a war of words with Thunberg on social media. After the news of Tate's arrest emerged, Thunberg tweeted once again referencing their feud.

According to a report from CNN-affiliated Romanian outlet Antena 3, Tate, 36, and his brother, Tristan, 34, were detained for 24 hours after authorities raided their luxury villa. The pair are being investigated in the probe of an organized crime group that authorities say exploited women for pornographic videos.

Tate was in the news earlier this week for a much less serious reason, after teenage climate change activist Thunberg "owned" him online. Many online are speculating that Tate's video response to Thunberg's barb is what helped Romanian authorities locate him.

The American-British former kickboxer fired the first shot to Thunberg online by listing some of his petrol guzzling cars and asking for her email address. Her reply has so far garnered 3.2 million likes, making it one of the most-liked tweets of all time.

"Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com," Thunberg replied.

This set Tate into action, leading him to make a video which many believe was a great help to the Romanian police.

Within the video, he accused Thunberg of benefiting from Twitter "bots" boosting the tweet's numbers, but also had someone deliver two pizza boxes, insisting that they not be recycled, seemingly in an attempt to rattle Thunberg.

The pizza boxes seen clearly sport the brand name "Jerry's Pizza" across the side, which is a chain of pizza restaurants based in Bucharest, Romania. This confirmation that Tate was currently at his Romanian address may have been enough for the local police force to go on that he was currently in the country, and they could continue with their arrest.

"This is what happens when you don't recycle your pizza boxes," Thunberg wrote on Twitter in the early hours of Friday morning.

The speculation that Tate's video led to his arrest is unconfirmed, but thousands online are supporting and commenting on the theory.

Writer and clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo was one of the first to highlight how Tate unknowingly gave the Romanian authorities his whereabouts. "Romanian authorities needed proof that Andrew Tate was in the country so they reportedly used his social media posts. His ridiculous video yesterday featured a pizza from a Romanian pizza chain, Jerry's Pizza, confirming he was in the country." Caraballo included an image with an arrow to the offending pizza boxes and added, "This is absolutely epic."

Caraballo's tweet went viral in its own right, prompting them to write a multi-thread tweet explaining their rationale. It included previous reports that suggested authorities wanted to know that the brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were together, and the latest video posted by Andrew confirmed he was in the country.

A spokesperson for Tate said, "We cannot provide any details at the moment regarding alleged reports that they have been detained; however, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can."