International star Jackie Chan’s son 32-year-old Jaycee Chan and Taiwanese actor 23-year-old Kai Ko have been arrested in Beijing on drug-related charges.
The Beijing police have confirmed the drug arrests, saying that the arrests were made late Tuesday night on 14th August in Dongcheng, Beijing. Both Chan and Ko tested positive for marijuana and confessed to taking it, the police said. Later, the police found more than 100g of marijuana in Jaycee Chan’s residence and seized it. A 33-year-old unemployed Beijing man was arrested the next day on suspicion of selling drugs to Chan, reports said.
Kai Ko’s agent Angie Chai initially expressed concern over being unable to locate the Taiwan star when contacted by the media. She later confirmed his drug arrest and said that he would be detained. In a press release issued at 8pm yesterday, she said she had just got a call from the Chinese police at 6:30pm, informing her that Ko would be detained for 14 days and that immediate family would soon be allowed to visit him. She wrote, “We only know the fact that Kai Ko made a mistake, but we don’t know the details.”
She said she “nearly collapsed” when she got the call and apologised to the public on his behalf, saying her company had neglected his “life education”. She said she had been anxious since Sunday, when she started hearing rumours about the arrest from her friends in Beijing but did not know how to verify the rumours. Accompanied by a lawyer, she went to a detention centre in Beijing in the afternoon. The computers there did not have any information on Ko, and she left with a “glimmer of hope” that the rumours were false, she said.
She had not been able to believe the rumours, she said, because her company had always told actors not to touch drugs and Ko had told her he promised his mother to stay clean.
South China Morning Post reported that their arrest made them part of a growing list of celebrities that include China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan stars who have been detained in Beijing’s crackdown on celebrity drug use in the last 2 years. Apple Daily said that Jaycee Chan was suspected of harbouring drug users, an offence which carries a penalty of up to 3 years in jail.
Both Kai Ko and Jaycee Chan could also face possible criminal charges.
UPDATE:
According to CNA, police found over 100 grams of cannabis at Jaycee Chan’s Beijing residence following their arrest, some of which has reportedly been in Chan’s possession for over 2 years. Both Ko and Jaycee Chan have since admitted to taking illegal drugs and tested positive for drug use. While Ko has been charged with drug consumption, Jaycee Chan faces the more serious charge of providing a venue for drug use.
Public relations firm M’Stones, which represents Jaycee, confirmed that his famous father has travelled to Beijing to deal with his son’s arrest, reported Hong Kong-based English daily South China Morning Post. Meanwhile, on Weibo, no updates were seen posted on both official accounts of the father and son.
Beijing police said the case is still under investigation.
