Hong Kong action superstar Jackie Chan's actor-son Jaycee Chan has
been detained in Beijing on drug-related charges, the latest
high-profile celebrity to be ensnared in one of China's biggest
anti-drug crackdowns in two decades.
Jaycee Chan, 31, was detained last Thursday together with the
23-year-old Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko, Beijing police said late
Monday on their official microblog, identifying them only by their
surnames, ages and nationalities. It was unclear why the detentions
were announced several days later.
Police said both actors tested positive for marijuana and admitted
using the drug, and that 100 grams of it were taken from Chan's home.
Jaycee Chan's management, M'Stones International, apologized to the
public on his behalf for the "social impact" caused in a statement on
their website. It said they would "supervise his rehabilitation and
help him return to the right path."
The detentions follow a declaration in June by President Xi Jinping
that illegal drugs should be wiped out and that offenders would be
severely punished. In Beijing alone, more than 7,800 people have been
caught in the crackdown, police said.
A string of celebrities have been among those detained, including Gao
Hu, who acted in Zhang Yimou's 2011 movie "The Flowers of War." Last
week, 42 Beijing performing arts associations and theater companies
signed a pledge to not hire any actors connected with drugs in an
event organized by the capital's Narcotics Control Office and the
Beijing Cultural Bureau.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of a police search of the
younger Chan's home in Beijing in which he is depicted, his face
pixelated, showing officers where he stashed bags of marijuana. Police
said they acted on a tipoff from the public.
Chan is accused of accommodating drug users, an offense that carries a
maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment — a far more serious
charge than that of drug consumption. Two other people detained in the
same case were accused of selling drugs while Ko is accused of drug
consumption.
China named the elder Chan an anti-drug ambassador in 2009. Ko, the
Taiwanese star, was part of an anti-drug campaign two years ago, CCTV
reported, showing footage of the campaign in which he joins other
celebrities in a chorus declaring: "I don't use drugs."
On Tuesday, Ko was shown on CCTV, his face pixelated, tearfully
apologizing to his fans and family.
"I feel very regretful, very sorry to all the people who support me...
I've been a very bad example, I've made a very big mistake," Ko said.
In a statement online, his management company, Star Ritz Productions,
said Ko had received a 14-day detention and also apologized to the
public.
Ko, whose real name is Ko Chen-tung, became a sensation after his 2011
film "You Are the Apple of My Eye," a box-office hit in Taiwan. He won
Best New Performer award for his role in the coming-of-age movie at
the Golden Horse awards in Taiwan, considered the most prestigious in
Chinese-language cinema.
He played the boyfriend of one of the protagonists in China-produced
"Tiny Times 3.0," which appealed to young female audiences and knocked
"Transformers 4" off the No. 1 spot as the most watched film after its
release in the mainland last month.
Illegal drug use has ballooned in China in recent decades, after being
virtually eradicated following the 1949 communist revolution.
Narcotics began to reappear with the loosening of social controls in
the late 1980s.
In more recent years, rising wealth and greater personal freedoms have
been accompanied by a growing popularity of methamphetamines and the
party drugs Ecstasy and ketamine. They are often bought on social
media forums and consumed in nightclubs, leading to periodic police
crackdowns.
Source: yahoo news
