The ‘dadcore’ trend first made an appearance in 2016, but it’s really taken off in recent years. With masculine tailoring making a comeback, here’s a beginner’s guide on how to nail the aesthetic
There’s a new aesthetic that’s taking the fashion world by storm(Image: WWD via Getty Images)
You might be familiar with the whimsical charm of cottagecore, the elegance of balletcore, or the ethereal allure of dreamcore – but brace yourself for a trend that’s a bit closer to home: ‘dadcore’.
Imagine an offshoot of normcore – that easy-going, comfy vibe with plenty of neutral and oversized items – dadcore is all about those basic, no-fuss pieces you’d likely spot in your old man’s closet, think jean shorts and roomy jackets.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer rocked the trend at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last year, where he was spotted wearing a Team GB-branded cagoule. Similarly, Zayn Malik tapped into dadcore at New York Fashion Week in September 2024. The former One Direction star donned a bushy beard, long, grown out hair and a brown collared leather jacket.
But how do you rock this look without appearing as though you’ve raided the bargain bin at the local charity shop? With masculine tailoring making a comeback, here’s your guide to nailing the trend.
READ MORE: Labubu alternatives to add to your shopping haul before they sell out too
The ‘dadcore’ aesthetic is an offshoot of ‘normcore’ – easy, laid-back, and oversized – and Keir Starmer loved it at the Olympics Paris Opening ceremony(Image: PA)
What is ‘dadcore’?
Once the epitome of uncool, ‘dad’ fashion has now become a hot trend. The dadcore style – think functional parkas, bulky trainers, and acid-washed jeans – first made waves in 2016 on Balenciaga’s catwalks and by the end of the decade, it had captured the public eye.
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Its charm may well stem from its embrace of imperfection. Celebrity stylist Oriona Robb says: “I think it has gained momentum through a mix of irony, comfort and a pushback against the hyper-curated and over-styled looks we’ve seen a lot of. It’s that imperfect laidback style instead.”
This trend is all about deliberately donning those “unfashionable” garments typically linked with middle-aged dads, like drainpipe jeans, polos and loafers.
These items – when styled knowingly – become statements of authenticity and effortlessness. “[It’s about] simple basics with a sense of humour and deeper sentimentality,” says Robb, “and it’s thrown together effortlessly.”
Zayn Malik embraced dadcore at NYFW(Image: WWD via Getty Images)
‘A deliberate rejection of recent prim, proper trends’
Much like grunge and indie sleaze spoke to the youth of the ’90s, dadcore pushes back against polished conformity. It’s a deliberate rejection of recent prim, proper trends like ‘quiet luxury’.
Dadcore is riding the wave of a growing cultural movement. “It’s deeply tied to the broader nostalgia wave that’s [sweeping] fashion,” says Robb, noting the connection with an era craving something solid in swiftly changing times.
The dadcore aesthetic particularly resonates with the younger generations(Image: Getty Images)
Highlighting the warming charm behind it, Robb explains: “The dadcore style is supposed to feel familiar and almost an aesthetic version of childhood home videos or Sunday morning routines.”
With a keen eye for fashion cycles, younger millennials and Gen Z are dressing up in past styles with a fresh perspective. “This trend allows them to play with irony, comfort and storytelling all at once,” comments Robb on the trend’s unique blend.
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How to nail ‘dadcore’
Building a dadcore wardrobe doesn’t necessitate a massive overhaul. Robb recommends beginning with staples such as chunky classic trainers – think New Balance or Reebok – combined with comfy jeans like relaxed-fit or stonewashed.
Essentials of this retro vibe include oversized tees, whether graphic or plain, in washed-out hues, plaid or flannel shirts typically tucked in, and practical outerwear such as anoraks or windbreakers.
Robb acknowledges that fully committing to the suburban dad vibe might not suit everyone’s taste. “It’s a tough one as for those with a love of luxury or classic feminine style, it can feel like the total opposite! But dadcore doesn’t mean abandoning your style.”
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You can begin by incorporating a windbreaker or a pair of chunky trainers into an otherwise tailored or contemporary ensemble. “The goal isn’t to costume yourself but to reinterpret the aesthetic through your lens,” shares Robb.
A floppy-haired teenager woke up after a party he’d hosted while his parents were away in one of the best-known advertisements for the Yellow Pages phone directory.
Before the rise of the internet, we had the Yellow Pages, a comprehensive directory of local businesses – from advice centres to zoos – all vying for your custom, packaged in a hefty, distinctively coloured phone book. In the 1990s, the Reading-based company became famous for its unforgettable TV adverts, each new release bringing a buzz of anticipation akin to the unveiling of a new John Lewis Christmas advert today.
These TV commercials even turned their stars into temporary celebrities, long before the era of reality TV, and gave birth to several catchphrases. Anyone around at the time will easily remember the Yellow Pages ad featuring elderly man searching for a book titled Fly Fishing by J R Hartley, with the surprising twist that it was Mr Hartley himself seeking his old publication.
READ MORE: Pop Idol star Rik Waller unrecognisable with brand-new career 24 years later
After hosting a house party while his parents were away, a shaggy-haired teenager awoke on the floor of his living room.
The cheeky youngster attempted to kiss the cheeky boy under the Christmas mistletoe while he was standing next to the stack of Yellow Pages. And in 2003, Cold Feet’s actor, James Nesbitt, hired to resurrect the company by using the Yellow Pages to navigate difficult circumstances. The actor channeled his character Adam’s helpless persona from the show.
However, one of the most memorable advertisements, which first aired in 1991, showed a shaggy-haired teenager hosting a house party while his parents were away. He stumbles upon a stranger on the bed as he enters the bedroom and declares, “Wake up! As a small group hastily cleans up the house, my parents return today. Then, after discovering a scratch on a wooden table and being horrified, he searches the trustworthy Yellow Pages for a solution.
He needs a French polisher in desperate need.
Continue reading the article.
“Hello, French polishers,” He calls in and says, “It’s possible you could save my life.” The unfortunate lad discovers that someone has doodled a beard and glasses onto a woman on one of the family’s prized paintings at the last minute and manages to salvage the scratch.
Simon Schatzberger, a Nottingham actor who later portrayed Adrian Mole in a stage production in London’s West End, played the teenager in the commercial and has since since reprised his role in a Woody Allen-like role in a stand-up comedy show.
On one of the family’s most prized paintings, a man has a beard and glasses on a woman, making the unfortunate man aware.
Now aged 57, he’s also had a stint as David Klarfeld on the BBC soap Doctors and made appearances in EastEnders as a Rabbi, both in December 2018 and again in January 2019. His other television roles include Band Of Brothers, Daniel Deronda and Father Brown.
In 2019, Yellow Pages announced it would cease printing its iconic directories, after more than half a century. The final editions of the once-indispensable guide were delivered in Brighton, the city where the directory’s original copies were distributed.
Simon Schatzberger, from the Yellow Pages ads, is now 57(Image: sischatzberger/twitter)
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It boasted 104 editions, each customised to specific areas of the UK, with nearly 23 million copies circulated each year. And in 2023, a perfume was launched that even smelled like Yellow Pages, proving the brand lives on… sort of.
READ MORE: NARS’ new summer collection includes cream eyeshadow that ‘doesn’t budge’ on oily eyelids
The “dadcore” trend started out in 2016 but has since grown in popularity. Here’s a beginner’s guide on how to nail the aesthetic, with masculine tailoring making a comeback.
There’s a new aesthetic that’s taking the fashion world by storm(Image: WWD via Getty Images)
You might be familiar with the whimsical charm of cottagecore, the elegance of balletcore, or the ethereal allure of dreamcore – but brace yourself for a trend that’s a bit closer to home: ‘dadcore’.
Imagine if you had a normcore offshoot: a relaxed, easy-going style with plenty of neutral and oversized items. Dadcore is all about the simple, no-fuss pieces you’d likely find in your old man’s closet, such as jean shorts and roomy jackets.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer rocked the trend at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last year, where he was spotted wearing a Team GB-branded cagoule. Similarly, Zayn Malik tapped into dadcore at New York Fashion Week in September 2024. The former One Direction star donned a bushy beard, long, grown out hair and a brown collared leather jacket.
But how can you rock this outfit without spouting out that you’ve used up the local charity shop’s bargain bin? Here’s your guide to capturing the masculine tailoring trend, with masculine tailoring making a comeback.
READ MORE: Labubu alternatives to add to your shopping haul before they sell out too
The ‘dadcore’ aesthetic is an offshoot of ‘normcore’ – easy, laid-back, and oversized – and Keir Starmer loved it at the Olympics Paris Opening ceremony(Image: PA)
What exactly is “dadcore”?
“Dad” fashion, which was once the epitome of uncool, has since become a hot trend. The dadcore aesthetic, which includes bulky trainers, acid-washed jeans, and functional parkas, first appeared on Balenciaga’s catwalks in 2016 and was well-known by the end of the decade.
Continue reading the article.
Its charming attitude may be the result of its embrace of imperfections. Oriona Robb, a celebrity stylist, says, “I think it has gained momentum because it has challenged the over-curated and over-styled looks we’ve seen a lot of.” Instead, it has that imperfect, laid-back vibe.
This trend focuses solely on purposefully showcasing the “unfashionable” items that are typically associated with middle-aged dads, such as drainpipe jeans, polos, and loafers.
When properly styled, these items become declarations of authenticity and ease. It’s “about] simple basics with a sense of humor and deeper sentimentality,” says Robb, “and it’s thrown together effortlessly.”
Zayn Malik embraced dadcore at NYFW(Image: WWD via Getty Images)
A deliberate rejection of recent trend-following, proper fashions
Dadcore rebels against polished conformity in the same way that grunge and indie sleaze did for the youth of the 1990s. It defys the recent prevailing, proper fashions, such as “quiet luxury.”
A growing cultural movement is roiling Dadcore. Robb says the connection to an era that was looking for something solid in rapidly changing times is “deeply tied to the broader nostalgia wave that’s]sweeping] fashion.”
The dadcore aesthetic particularly resonates with the younger generations(Image: Getty Images)
Robb explains that the dadcore style is intended to be edgy and almost akin to old home videos or Sunday morning routines, and that it is “almost an aesthetic version of that.”
Young millennials and Gen Z are dressing up in old fashions with a new perspective because of their keen interest in fashion cycles. Robb praises the trend’s unique blend of irony, comfort, and storytelling all at once.
By completing the survey below, help us make our content better. We’d like to hear from you.
How to master the “dadcore”
A major overhaul is not necessary to create a dadcore wardrobe. Robb advises pairing comfy jeans like relaxed-fit or stonewashed with staples like chunky classic trainers like New Balance or Reebok.
The most important elements of this retro vibe are oversized tees, whether plain or graphic, plaid or flannel shirts, and practical outerwear like anoraks or windbreakers.
Robb acknowledges that not everyone’s taste would be attracted to the suburban dad vibe. It’s a challenging one because it can feel like the complete opposite to those who love luxury or traditional feminine fashion! Dadcore, however, does not imply sacrificing your style.
Continue reading the article.
An otherwise tailored or contemporary ensemble can be made up of a windbreaker or two chunky trainers. The goal is to reinterpret the aesthetic through your eyes, says Robb.
One star sign’s desire for freedom is revealed in today’s horoscope for Saturday, June 7; the other reconnects with friends.
Find out what’s written in the stars with our astrologer Russell Grant(Image: Daily Record/GettyImages)
One star sign is having a difficult time with a friend on Saturday, June 7, and the other takes a break.
There are 12 zodiac signs – Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces – and the horoscopes for each can give you the lowdown on what your future holds, be it in work, your love life, your friends and family or more.
These daily forecasts have been compiled by astrologer Russell Grant, who has been reading star signs for over 50 years. From Aries through to Pisces, here’s what today could bring for your horoscope – and what you can do to be prepared.
Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Although some of the things being said are intriguing, it would be best not to get involved because there is gossip in the air. Some people will try to entice you into their discussions, but not all of the comments will be positive. You won’t want to be associated with what is happening.
Taurus (Apr 21 – May 21)
A neighbor will step in to help you with a family issue, which will surpass anything you could have accomplished on your own. You’ll be surprised at how they handled this situation, and you’ll be surprised at how effectively they handled it on your own.
Gemini (May 22 – June 21)
You stay on your toes in a competitive environment. You are aware of how important it is to stay ahead of your competition. There is a sense that you should remain vigilant and alert in both social and familial settings. rely on your gut feeling. You can demonstrate your abilities to others by having the ability to think quickly.
Continue reading the article.
Cancer (June 22 – July 23)
You would never give in to your responsibilities, but you also acknowledge that you might occasionally need a break to relax and enjoy yourself. You might have an overly serious relationship with many of the people you are with today. A housemate appears to have lost their sense of humor.
Leo (July 24 – Aug 23)
You can help plan a themed party for your family and friends. It will be challenging but enjoyable. Consider your health. Encourage your loved ones to take at least 30 minutes of a stroll. You’ll feel great while walking and can talk.
Virgo (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
You initially believed you understood a friend, but there was a strong emotional connection. You are starting to wonder why their strange behavior is this. When you can’t figure out why they act in such a strange way, it seems like they are sending different signals.
Libra (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
You are prepared to consider ways to simplify life. Making household chores simple can be very beneficial. Colleagues and coworkers can work together to speed up the pace and make the work more enjoyable. You’ve always preferred to work together.
Scorpio (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
Your feelings are intense. If you suddenly find yourself in a fight with a powerful personality, don’t be alarmed. Although there will be angst, they will soon be forgotten. You will triumph over adversity in a battle.
Sagittarius (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
Try meditation if it’s difficult to stop thinking. You might also consider experimenting with creative ways to improve your living space to uplift your spirits. Enjoy some music this evening. Dance to the soothing beat of its rhythm while relaxing. Spend some time outside.
Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
Your spirits will be lifted when you reconnect with friends you haven’t seen in a while. Conversations will be lively and entertaining. You should feel relieved that your close and loving relationship is progressing. You and I are finding it easier to talk about sensitive subjects, and we will work together to resolve a common problem.
Aquarius (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
You have put a lot of effort into helping those who don’t appreciate your kindness. Feel free to decline if someone approaches you for a favor the next time. You are free to justify your choice. You can make new friends and connect with other users of the same interests by signing up for an online chat room.
Continue reading the article.
Pisces (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
You want more freedom, variety, and space in your life. You are starting to feel depressed as a result of your current routines. You feel trapped because you are confined to the same place or people. Don’t tell yourself there’s no such thing as a thing; instead, start looking for ways to get out of this rut.
READ MORE: Father’s Day gift guide for 2025: Handpicked presents from £7 to suit every kind of dad
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, has warned that if Hezbollah is not disarmed, there will be “no calm in Beirut” and “no order or stability in Lebanon” unless Israel’s security is assured.
In a statement released on Friday, the Israeli minister said, “Agreements must be honored, and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force.”
On Thursday night, Israel’s military launched a string of strikes against Beirut’s southern suburbs, prompting a large flurry of residents to flee their homes on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. They were then forced to comply with a forced evacuation order.
Israel claimed that its most recent attack targeted Hezbollah “drone factories” in the Lebanese capital without providing any supporting proof.
In “blatant violation” of the terms of the ceasefire, the Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah and Israel were “operating to increase production of UAVs [drones] for the next war.”
Israeli fighter jets carried out about a dozen strikes in the attack, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. A Hezbollah statement claimed that dozens of buildings had been damaged while nine buildings had already been destroyed following a preliminary assessment.
Hezbollah denied that the locations targeted by the drone production facilities were there.
Since the ceasefire ended on November 27, Israel has launched its fourth, and fourth, heaviest attack against Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Hezbollah controls.
Late in April, Israel launched its most recent attack on the Lebanese capital, claiming to destroy “infrastructure where precision missiles” were being kept by Hezbollah.
Flagrant violation of a global agreement
According to the Lebanese government under President Joseph Aoun, Arab nations, and human rights organizations, Israel has violated the ceasefire almost daily throughout Lebanon.
Aoun has urged the United States and France to halt Israel’s attacks, both of which were guaranteeers of the November ceasefire.
Aoun criticized the Israeli aggression in a statement released late on Thursday, calling the attacks a “flagrant violation of an international agreement” on the eve of a holy religious festival.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar urged “all Lebanese political forces to put their condemnations into concrete actions,” including diplomatic pressure, on Friday.
At least 190 people have been killed and nearly 500 have been injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to the Lebanese government’s April statement.
Hezbollah, a political party and paramilitary group once thought to be more heavily armed than the state, has been given the Lebanese military as a result of the ceasefire agreement.
However, the army of Lebanon issued a warning about how the attacks are weakened by the ceasefire. In order to stop an air strike, Israel also objected to its request to inspect the alleged drone production sites in southern Beirut.
The Israeli military’s role is being diminished by the Israeli government’s repeated violations of the agreement and its refusal to respond to the committee, according to a statement from the military.
Furthering Israeli attacks, the army might decide to freeze cooperation with the monitoring committee when “when it comes to searching posts” and destroying Hezbollah infrastructure close to the Israeli border in southern Lebanon.
In response to Israel’s occupation of Gaza in October 2023, the Lebanese organization launched cross-border attacks against northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. This renewed the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Tian Win Nang, from Southern Shan State, Myanmar, squats on the hard-packed earth while balancing a kilogram (2. 2 pounds) of chocolate-colored raw opium in each hand like a human weighs the scales.
“Each kilogramme is worth around $250”, said Tian Win Nang, wearing worn white flip-flops and a black T-shirt.
Tian Win Nang, the son of poppy farmers, appears to be just about to enter adulthood.
He said, “Chinese traders pay us in advance for the harvest,” while displaying three dinner-plate-sized opium mounds to Al Jazeera.
“We don’t know what happens after”, he says of the journey that will see the opium go “north to the labs” where it will be processed into morphine and eventually refined into heroin.
He continues, “We do this to survive.”
In southern Shan State, a single day of opium resin extraction [Fabio Polese/Al Jazeera]
The sun is high and the air is still in the poppy fields blanketing the hills in this part of southern Shan State in eastern Myanmar.
As hands work quickly to score green poppy pods, both young and old, before silently moving on to another plant, their faces are shielded by scarves and straw hats.
The wound that was inflicted on the pod gradually releases milky fluid. When it has dried to the consistency of gum, the same hands will scrape off the sticky substance, gather it together and leave it to dry in the sun until it reaches the toffee-like consistency of raw opium.
Many farmers in this area of Shan State, where drug shipments have been flogging along these mountain roads for decades, practice this daily. The routes lead to China, Laos, and Thailand, respectively.
Armed conflict between Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed organisations in these regions has fuelled opium farming and drug production for generations, but the trade has surged in step with the country’s intensifying civil war.
In the southern Shan State of Myanmar, in the form of [Fabio Polese/Al Jazeera], a poppy field crosses the hills.
According to experts, there have long been alliances between senior Myanmar military officers, ethnic armed groups, local criminal organizations, and transnational syndicates that deal with the logistics, refining, and distribution of drugs.
“Drug trafficking in Myanmar has been facilitated by the military since the 1990s”, said Mark Farmaner, director of the London-based Advance Myanmar charity and an expert on Southeast Asia. He claimed that “many officers profit personally, and the institution as a whole reaps political benefits.”
Sam Gor, a sprawling network of rival Chinese triad gangs that are active in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and other regions, is one of the region’s most powerful syndicates.
Despite the 2021 arrest and extradition to Australia of Tse Chi Lop – a Canadian national of Chinese origin widely believed to be the leader of Sam Gor – the network remains largely intact.
The Sam Gor syndicate, which controlled between 40 and 70% of the Asia Pacific region’s wholesale methamphetamine market in 2018, is thought to have generated at least $ 8 billion in revenue in 2018, and possibly as much as $ 17.7 billion, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In southern Shan State, one of Myanmar’s main opium-producing regions, local women cultivate poppies in the shade of the midday sun.
Despite the high-profile arrest of Tse Chi Lop, the regional drug trade is flourishing with more than 1.1 billion methamphetamine pills seized across Southeast Asia in 2023 – a historic record, according to UNODC.
We oppose the use, production, and distribution of narcotics.
The “Golden Triangle,” or “lawless territory encompassing the shared borders of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, is where the majority of the methamphetamine comes from laboratories hidden in the mountains of northern Shan State and other areas on Myanmar’s eastern borders, which have become the region’s epicenter of synthetic drug production.
But before the explosion in methamphetamine production, the Golden Triangle was infamous for its opium crops and the heroin it produced while under the rule of the self-styled drug lord Khun Sa – the undisputed drug kingpin of the 1980s and 1990s regional drug trade.
According to legend, Khun Sa commanded a personal army of about 15, 000 men, and that region became the world’s heroin producing hub. He died in Yangon in 2007 while being guarded by the same generals who had provided him with security for years after giving in to the military government of Myanmar in 1996.
A farmer scores a poppy pod to collect its sap]Fabio Polese/Al Jazeera]
After Khun Sa’s passing, Australian lecturer Kelvin Rowley wrote in response to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s estimate that the US drug enforcement agency made up 70% of the heroin produced in the US.
According to Rowley, “The US government placed a $2 million bounty on] Khun Sa’s head, which is reportedly less than what he earned in a single month.”
Opium has now made a comeback in the Golden Triangle.
Myanmar became the world’s top producer of opium in 2022 after the Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation there.
By 2024, some 995 tonnes of raw opium had been produced in Myanmar, up 135 percent from the military takeover in 2021, according to UNODC estimates. The gross value of the opium and heroin trade in Myanmar last year was estimated to be between $589m and $1.57bn, according to UNODC.
According to UN reports, Myanmar’s civil war is now in its fourth year, and the volume of drug production is related to it.
People have traditionally relied on poppy cultivation as a means of survival because Myanmar’s economy has collapsed since the military coup in 2021, and options are narrowing.
The UN notes that opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia has long been linked to poverty, lack of government services, economic challenges and insecurity.
According to the UN, “Households and villages in Myanmar that cultivate poppy and the wider opium economy do so to supplement their income or because they lack other legitimate opportunities.” <, /p >, <, p >,
But now parts of Pekon, long a military stronghold and a key drug trafficking corridor, are under the control of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) and other Karenni armed groups fighting the ruling military.
They claim to be interested in making changes.
We oppose the use, production, and distribution of narcotics, according to Maui, the KNDF’s deputy commander.
“When we capture Burmese soldiers, they’re full of meth”, Maui said.
They immediately tell us that it is distributed by their superiors to push them to the front lines, he said, “we ask where it comes from and they tell us without a doubt.”
We’ll pursue the opium as soon as the war is over. We want it to be used only for medical purposes”, he added.
[Fabio Polese/Al Jazeera] Karenni police officers search a motorcycle at a checkpoint in Pekon, southern Shan State.
In the areas of Shan State, which they now control, Karenni police forces stop and search motorcycles and other vehicles on the roads.
“We are stopping cars and motorbikes we don’t recognise to search for drugs”, said Karenni police commander Win Ning Thun, standing at a checkpoint just outside a village in Pekon district.
Win Ning Thun, who uses the local name for methamphetamine pills, said, “We’re looking for yaba pills.”
This region was formerly under the control of the military and pro-junta militia, according to Win Ning Thun.
“Meth was moving freely under their supervision. He claimed that they reclaimed a portion of the profits from each shipment that transited.
I was supposed to earn a lot of money, I thought.
Deep in the forests surrounding Pekon, a small prison holds rows of detainees arrested by Karenni police.
“Everyone here has been detained for drug trafficking,” the statement read. Some people traveled to the Thai border with yaba pills. Others were internal couriers”, a Karenni police official told Al Jazeera.
He remarked, “These are the pills we confiscated just this past month,” pointing to a plastic bag full of small, inexpensive red yaba pills that he claimed represent a lucrative trade worth millions of dollars.
Anton Lee, one of the prisoners, had a calm, unassuming appearance and wore glasses.
“They stopped me at a checkpoint with 10, 000 pills”, Lee said.
[Fabio Polese/Al Jazeera] Young Kareni police officers posing in front of a table displaying the drugs seized during their checkpoint operations
They were traveling to the Thai border, I said. I was supposed to make a lot of money”, he said, offering no further details, only to say that the profit he hoped to earn would have fed his family for a year.
He is currently facing a lengthy prison sentence.
The military regime’s purchase of more sophisticated weapons and the rebel forces’ attempts to hold out and advance continue are just a few kilometers away from the prison.
The military’s air raids, drone strikes and artillery fire hammer schools, hospitals, homes and religious sites, turning entire villages into targets.
Yet some people in southern Shan State appear to be trying to stop the flow of drugs, even when they are under fire.
