The latest to be nabbed were at least three people handing out anti-regime pamphlets at the busy Thiri Mingalar fruit and vegetable market in Yangon, shoppers and other witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals from the government.

It followed the earlier arrests of two prominent dissidents. One came Tuesday as U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met with Cabinet ministers in the junta's remote, jungle capital Naypyitaw.

Pinheiro was to confer with the government's foreign and labor ministers before returning to Yangon Thursday.

Pinheiro's five-day visit is part of an investigation into widespread allegations of human rights abuses since the regime's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September. He was "given assurances" by the junta that he will be able to interview detainees before leaving, the U.N. said in a statement.

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