Building a police force in the middle of Myanmar’s civil war

Part of a three-story series on the fight for and rebuilding of Myanmar’s Kayah state following the 2021 coup. Read Part 1 here.

DEMOSO, Kayah state, Myanmar – The officers of Station 8 in Myanmar’s southern Shan state pile out of their police car, a beat up minivan with bad brakes and a busted front light. Their mission: set up a checkpoint to search for yaba, a type of methamphetamine that’s become a scourge in Southeast Asia.