Shahjahanpur: After the Uttrakhand police on Sunday arrested two Lakhimpur Kheri residents for allegedly smuggling tiger skin and bones to Nepal at Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, an alert has been sounded at the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) near here.Confirming the development, DTR director Sunil Chaudhary told TOI, “Two poachers have been arrested with a 13-foot-long skin and 8.3 kg bones of a tiger, which was poached here around 18 months ago. Alert has been sounded in the tiger reserve, and we are monitoring the situation.”Divulging details, divisional forest officer (DFO), DTR buffer zone, Anil Patel told TOI that during police interrogation, the duo — identified as Mahaveer of Dhaka village in Bankeganj and Raju Kumar of Kamlapur village under Gola block in Lakhimpur Kheri district — “accepted to have killed a tiger 18 months ago in Jatpura beat of Mailani range of South Kheri forest division, which falls under DTR buffer zone”.“The accused also disclosed the names of their aides who helped them in poaching. Following which, DTR officials raided their places in Morania and Ghata villages near south Kheri forest, but the accused had escaped by then.”Meanwhile, DTR officials have swung into action, and have been tracing every suspected activity in the forest and nearby areas.“The presence of tigers has also been confirmed outside the DTR buffer zone, and efforts are on to trace their movement to secure them from poachers. Officials are also collecting information from villages where tribal people live, as they are hired by poachers for hunting wild animals,” said DFO.

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