Twelve more police officers defect from regime in Chin State, say resistance fighters  

Twelve police officers in the Chin State town of Kanpetlet have defected to join the struggle against the coup regime, a local group of resistance fighters said.

The Chinland Defense Force (CDF) announced on Saturday that it had taken responsibility for the security of the defectors, who include a sergeant and two lance-corporals and are all ethnically Chin.

They defected two days after the CDF attacked a police outpost in the town on May 13. 

The CDF, whose members are mostly Chin people from the state’s nine townships and other areas, was formed in April amid  crackdowns on anti-coup protesters.

It urged other police officers to defect as soon as possible. It also published statements from the defectors that said they no longer want to serve under the military dictatorship. 

In the wake of the February 1 coup, many members of the police force in Chin State left their posts to join the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). 

Over 200 of them fled across the border to Mizoram in India, according to a Reuters report. Other defectors took shelter in local communities.

“We welcome our ethnic Chin people who joined the CDM and came to collaborate with us. We are taking care of them,” said a spokesperson for the CDF in Kanpetlet who asked not to be named.

If the police officers wanted to join the armed resistance and fight against the military the CDF would welcome them, he said. It would also have no objections if they wanted to live with their families somewhere safe, he added.