Jaycee Chan

BEIJING: The actor son of Hong Kong action superstar Jackie 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.

Pi Yijun, an anti-drug adviser for the Beijing government, said authorities were targeting celebrities because “these people have a large number of fans, so their behavior tends to have a huge influence on young people.”

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.

 
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