KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 ― An award-winning Chinese director has been arrested for making pornography.
While the director was not identified with his full name, Chinese police gave the suspect's surname as Shen and a graduate from the Shanghai Theatre Academy leading social media sleuths to conclude the suspect as Shen Juhui.
Shen, 38, was arrested with two women who had previously acted in his films, Today reported.
Shen, whose works include Tonglin Bird and romcom iPartment 4, was said to be destroying evidence on his laptop and mobile phone when police arrived at his home.
They managed to recover a notebook where he detailed the cost for each shoot.
In a statement issued via Weibo, police said the suspect runs a media company but his business had been badly affected due to the pandemic, forcing him to turn to making pornographic films.
He is said to have made 30,000 yuan (RM19,449) for each film and had since made over 1 million yuan (RM648,321) since October last year when he started the venture.
One of the arrested women, who appeared in 10 of Shen's films, confessed that she agreed to make the movies as she was told that they would only be released overseas.
Shen's operation came to light after a 12-year-old boy’s mother filed a report when she noticed her son had been spending money on an application.
The woman had initially thought she was being scammed.
