Romanian authorities say probe relates to alleged crimes including human trafficking and sex with a minor.

Influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been detained in Romania as part of an investigation into new allegations of criminality, including human trafficking and sex with a minor.

The Tate brothers, who were indicted last year on charges including human trafficking and rape, were detained for questioning overnight on Wednesday after investigators carried out searches on four properties in Bucharest and Ilfov county.

Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said in a statement that the new probe related to the alleged trafficking of minors, human trafficking, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering.

The controversial brothers, who have attracted millions of followers on social media by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say glorifies misogyny, have denied the existing charges against them.

As the brothers were escorted from their Bucharest home into a police van on Wednesday night, Andrew Tate told reporters that prosecutors had gotten “desperate”.

“This file is even more stupid than the first one. Wait till you see. They say I have lover-boyed the mother of my children. And we’ve tricked them into having kids. Unbelievable,” Tate said.

“Wait till you see. Remember the first file and the media wasn’t asking where’s the evidence. This is your chance.”

Andrew Tate’s X account later posted a video accusing unnamed figures of using a “tried and true playbook” against him and others who speak out against the establishment, invoking sexual assault allegations levelled against former US President Donald Trump and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In July, a court of appeal in Bucharest banned the Tates from leaving Romania as they await their trafficking trial, overturning an earlier ruling that granted them permission to move freely within the European Union.

The ruling came after a court in April ruled that the trial against the brothers and two Romanian female suspects could proceed.

A date for the trial has not yet been set.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies