Gurgaon: A 22-year-old trainee who joined a Faridabad police station for tech support last winter didn’t make an impression. It was only in the summer that his real talent became evident. Suddenly, everyone was looking for Monu.The search ended this weekend when the 22-year-old ITI (Industrial Training Institute) apprentice posted at Sector 8 police station in Faridabad was arrested after it came to light that he had stolen 32 weapons — including foreign-made pistols — from the ‘malkhana’ (the room where seized items, evidence and records are stored) over six months of his apprenticeship and routed them to an inter-state illegal network.The theft also exposed loopholes in malkhana security, but that is unlikely to be mitigating factor for Monu, who is among 20 people arrested after police tracked down the weapons and recovered all of them from different parts of Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. The 20 include those who bought the guns.Police said the theft remained undetected from Oct 2025 to April 2026 even as the weapons were quietly smuggled out of Sector 8 police station and sold across multiple cities.The malkhana discrepancy came to light during an inspection by station manager Rajbir Singh on May 9, when mismatches in the weapon register were noticed. “Initial verification showed some weapons missing. A detailed audit later revealed 32 firearms had disappeared,” an officer said.An FIR was registered under sections related to theft, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy, following which crime branch teams from Sector 30 were tasked with tracing the weapons.Police commissioner Satendra Kumar Gupta monitored the probe. ASI Bijender Singh, who was in charge of the armoury, was suspended for negligence, and a departmental inquiry was initiated against him.Police have also initiated a probe to ascertain whether there was larger collusion in the theft, given that malkhana records — including the stock of bullets — are mandated to be checked and verified daily. “This could not have gone on for six months without serious lapses. We are examining whether anyone else was involved or looked the other way,” a senior officer said.Monu, a resident of Karnera village, had joined the police department as part of his ITI apprenticeship and was handling computer work. Officers said access and familiarity with the premises allowed him to operate unnoticed.According to police, Monu allegedly lifted the weapons one by one and passed them to his maternal cousin Vipin, who then handed them to Sanjay, a resident of Tijara in Rajasthan.Police spokesperson Yashpal said Sanjay used a wider network to push the stolen weapons into Dharuhera, Bhiwadi, Rewari, Noida, Palwal and Nuh. “It was a chain. One accused passed the weapons to another, and they kept moving across districts,” Yashpal said.Police said technical surveillance and field operations helped crack the network and recover all 32 weapons.An officer said most of the stolen weapons were licensed firearms. “The weapons stolen from the malkhana were largely those whose licences were pending renewal or had been deposited by local residents for safekeeping,” the officer said.According to sources, the foreign-made firearms are estimated to be worth between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.