Silchar, Aug. 31: Police arrested 13 people, including a political leader, two teachers and Bangladeshi nationals, in the past few days for allegedly running a fake passport racket in Karimganj district of Assam.

Karimganj superintendent of police Pradip Ranjan Kar today said the racket was active in sending Bangladeshi citizens to foreign countries with Indian passports.

"Our preliminary investigation indicates that the network is active in Bangladesh and Dubai," Kar said.

The police today said they were looking for two more persons who are involved in the racket.

The arrested persons were identified as Selim Uddin, Kabir Uddin, Aftab Uddin Khan Choudhury, Matab Uddin, Moinul Hoque Choudhury, Sahajahan Ali, Bilal Ahmed Khan Choudhury, Badrul Mullah Mustafa and Manuwara Begum, a Congress leader and panchayat president of Binodini village, all residents of Karimganj district, and Sumon Ahmed, Dilwar Hussain, Sabbir Ahmed, and Sahid Ahmed, residents Sylhet, Bangladesh.

"All the four arrested Bangladeshi citizens are very affluent businessmen. They were living in Karimganj district for the past several months, while Aftab and Bilal are teachers at Ganirgram LP School in Karimganj," the police added.

The police also named two more Bangladeshi nationals - Nizam Uddin alias Kamal and Aftab Uddin alias Mamon Rashid - for being involved in the racket.

"Both Nizam and Aftab obtained Indian passports by providing fake documents. Nizam is now in Dubai and Aftab in Bangladesh," Kar said.

Another Bangladeshi national, Abdul Ahad, who was also involved in the racket, died recently. His body was sent to Bangladesh after preliminary investigation, the police added.

Following the arrests, Karimganj police today ordered re-verification of all the passports that had been issued in the district in the past few years.

"People, who are out of the country at present, also have to get their documents verified. We will conduct a re-verification for all the passports that were issued in the district," Kar added.

He said from now on two persons from the same locality have to come to the police station to verify that they know the person who applied for the passport and they also have to provide an undertaking.

They would soon raid banks, including the State Bank of India, for allowing illegal Bangladeshi citizens to open accounts, the police said.

The police yesterday seized various documents that Ahad provided to open an account at the United Bank of India's Nilambazar branch. "Ahad also obtained an Indian passport recently," the police said.

The police will also investigate the role of district officials who issued PAN cards to these Bangladeshi nationals.

The racket was busted after the police recently arrested four Bangladeshi and two Indian nationals red-handed when they were dumping Ahad's body, who reportedly died of a heart attack, at an abandoned area at Nilambazar.

Sources said the rate of applying for an Indian passport in Karimganj district had increased manifold in the recent times.

"Every day, on an average, 40 to 50 people come for verification to obtain their passports," the source said.