Burma’s ruling junta has begun training a secret force tasked with suppressing political dissidents and preventing mass riots, according to residents in Kachin State.

Residents in Myitkyina, the capital, said that members of government-affiliated agencies, such as the fire brigade, municipal workers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, have been recruited for the anti-riot training, called “recruiting” training by the junta.

Participants are said to be instructed in the use of a bamboo rod two inches in diameter and four to five feet long. A special training center has opened near Mayan, about 32km (20 miles) outside Myitkyina.

The training is said to be conducted by Burmese troops from battalions 21, 29 and 37, stationed near Myitkyina.

After completing the training course, participants are said to have been sent back to their home towns and instructed to gather information about the movements of political activists. They were also given as much as 30,000 kyat (about US $23) per month.

Local residents add that the junta has ordered larger cities across the country to train as many as 5,000 people each, while the USDA and government ministries have been instructed to provide financial and material assistance. The USDA was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

“They [trainees] are not soldiers, but they are being sent out to pretend to be taxi drivers or municipal workers and to conduct their activities while living among civilians,” said one resident, on condition of anonymity. “Some are even pretending to be monks.”

Sources within the ethnic ceasefire group Kachin Independence Organization say that Burmese soldiers have also received counter-dissident training, as well as instruction on the use of tear gas.

Myitkyina currently has about 5,000 recruits, spread across the cities of Mohnyin, Mogaung and Hpakant. Bhamo is said to have 2,000 recruits, while Putao has another 1,000.

Local residents said the regime fears mass rioting, and the main purpose of the training was to eliminate dissent and deal effectively with any future uprising in the military-ruled country.

In recent days, the junta has stepped up attacks on opposition groups, particularly the 88 Generation Students group, which organized a successful signature campaign that collected more than half a million names in support of freeing all of Burma’s political prisoners.