UCLA Basketball Players detained in China

The players were seen checking into a Los Angeles-bound Delta flight at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, airline staff told The Wall Street Journal, who first reported that the players were heading back to the U.S.

LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who have been detained in China for the past week on suspicion of shoplifting, are headed back to the United States and are scheduled to arrive later Tuesday in Los Angeles.

The players were questioned last week about allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team's hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins had been staying before leaving for Shanghai to face Georgia Tech on Saturday. 

They were released on bail early Wednesday morning and had been staying at a lakeside hotel in Hangzhou since then.

There is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three stores inside a high-end shopping center, which houses Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo stores.

An anonymous U.S. official told The Washington Post that charges against the three players have been reduced.

UCLA returned to the United States on Saturday without the three freshmen, and Alford declined to discuss the matter after the team's win over the Yellow Jackets on Friday.