Summary: Jaycee Chan and Taiwanese film star Kai Ko have been detained in Beijing for marijuana as part of China’s biggest drug crackdown in the past 20 years.
Fox 411 has revealed that Jaycee Chan, the 31-year-old son of Jackie Chan, was arrested last Thursday with 23-year-old Taiwanese film star Kai Ko in Beijing. The pair joins thousands of others who have been arrested in China for drug charges. China has embarked on a tremendous anti-drug crackdown—one of the biggest in the past 20 years. More than 7,800 people have been detained in Beijing alone.
Illegal drug use exploded in China in recent decades, although it had been nearly wiped out after the 1949 communist revolution. In the late 1980’s, more relaxed social controls brought with them the reappearance of drugs in China. Recently, methamphetamines and the “party drugs” ecstasy and ketamine have been gaining popularity in correlation with citizens’ rising wealth and greater personal freedoms. Periodic police crackdowns attempt to eliminate the use of such drugs, many of which are boldly purchased on social media forums.
Beijing police posted about the detainment on their microblog on the Monday following the arrest. The police reported that both Chan and Ko tested positive for marijuana and admitted using marijuana. Police removed more than 100 grams of marijuana from Chan’s home. Chan’s management company, M’Stones International, apologized to the public for the “social impact” the arrest caused. M’Stones promised it would “supervise [Chan’s] rehabilitation and help him return to the right path.”
The police stated that they acted on a tipoff from the public. Footage of the search was aired on the Chinese state broadcast channel CCTV. Although his face is pixelated, the video shows Chan revealing where he was keeping his marijuana to officers. In China, accommodating drug users is a more serious crime than drug consumption. Chan is charged with accommodating drug users and faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Two others involved were accused of selling drugs. Ko faces drug consumption charges.
The arrest is a heavy blow for Jackie Chan, who was named an anti-drug ambassador by China in 2009. Ko had also participated in an anti-drug campaign two years ago on CCTV. Video footage of the campaign shows Ko singing “I don’t use drugs” with other celebrities.
Ko wept as he apologized to his friends and family on Tuesday on CCTV. His management company, Star Ritz Productions, has punished Ko with a 14-day detention. It also apologized on Ko’s behalf.
Ko stated, “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 won Best New Performer at the Golden Horse awards in Taiwan for his role in 2011’s “You Are the Apple of My Eye.” The award is the most prestigious in Chinese-language cinema. Ko also played the boyfriend of a protagonist in China’s “Tiny Times 3.0,” gaining the affection of young female fans and bumping “Transformers 4” out of the Number One spot as the most watched film last month.
Photo credit: straitstimes.com (Ko on left, Chan on right)