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“To arrest a government official in such cases, police need approval from the home ministry, which often takes time due to legal complexities. However, the ACC has the authority to arrest any government official if evidence of abuse of power is found,” he added.

The probe found that some employees of the EC’s Chattogram office, including data entry operators and office assistants, ran the syndicate in exchange for large sums of money from Rohingyas. They even appointed brokers in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban to locate wealthy Rohingyas, said police.

The CT division identified the racket and arrested several data entry operators and technical experts from Dhaka and Chattogram, including Shah Nur, a technical expert at the EC Secretariat who had direct access to all NID servers.

In his statement under Section 164, Shah Nur disclosed the name of a director at the EC Secretariat who was allegedly involved in the racket, said sources.

So far, 15 people, including six EC staffers, have been arrested. Among them, six have given confessional statements.

However, CID has made little progress since, failing to arrest any suspected high officials despite having their names.

Several police officers, wishing anonymity, said Rohingyas are once again attempting to enter Bangladesh by crossing the border.

Meanwhile, as the EC works to register new voters, there is concern that Rohingyas may try to exploit the same syndicate to obtain NID cards.

Notably, some suspects arrested in 2019 have returned to their offices in Chattogram after securing bail.

“We suspect that the racket could become active again. This is a matter of national interest, and the investigation must be concluded soon,” said a high-ranking CMP official.