Drug busts nab Zhang Yuan, Wu Lala

This COPS-style video of a drug bust aired on Beijing TV yesterday:

The program follows police to Keypoint & Cinerent Studio, where they arrest cinematographer Xie Zhengyu (Missing Gun) and Wu Gang. Wu, also known as Wu Lala, has done the sound work for a number of well-known films including Beijing Bastards and Not One Less.

Then the police raid the home of Zhang Yuan, director of Little Red Flowers, Green Tea, and Beijing Bastards, where they arrest Zhang and artist Mi Qiu on suspicion of using ice and ketamine.

They were acting on a tip provided by one of the people they arrested at Keypoint; a Modern Express article identified the tipster as Wu Lala but then absolved him:

Zhang Yuan’s drug use was no secret, and there were lots of “stories” floating around the industry. So Zhang Yuan had already come to the attention of the police, and his arrest would have happened sooner or later.

The paper dutifully reproduced some of those “stories,” citing anonymous sources. It also sought reactions from people who had worked with Zhang Yuan in the past, like Wang Shuo (“I’m not the one being arrested. What are you asking me for?”) and Vicki Zhao (“I can’t talk right now”).

Keypoint & Cinerent Studio issued a statement distancing the company from the situation: the drug bust occurred in Wu Lala’s personal studio, not on company property; the people with him were personal friends, not Keypoint employees; the sound on A World Without Thieves and Assembly (which were mentioned in the TV report) was done by Wang Dan, who doesn’t use drugs.