Jackie Chan’s Son Jaycee Chan Arrested After Being Caught In Huge Anti-Drug Crackdown

Jackie Chan’s son has become the latest celebrity to be detained on drug-related charges in one of China’s biggest anti-drug crackdowns in two decades. Jaycee Chan, 31, was arrested last Thursday along with the 23-year-old Taiwanese star Kai Ko, Beijing police said on Monday. It is unclear why the announcement of the detentions was delayed for several days. 

Police said both actors tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the drug, and that 100g of it was taken from Chan’s home. Jaycee Chan’s management, M’Stones International, apologised 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”. Jaycee Chan was born and raised in Los Angeles and has tried to launch a film and music career, which has not flourished. 

He is known as a playboy in China and is said to have frustrated his father with his extravagant lifestyle. 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.

Jackie Chan was in London for a screening of Chinese Zodiac last week Last week, 42 Beijing performing arts associations and theatre companies signed a pledge to not hire any actors connected with drugs in an event organised 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 behaviour 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. Police said they acted on a tip-off from the public. Chan is accused of accommodating drug users, an offence 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.” He was shown on CCTV, his face pixelated, tearfully apologising 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,” he said.