KATHMANDU, Oct. 10 -- A few days ago in Banke, police detained a man found unconscious on the roadside from a marijuana overdose. What shocked officers was not the drugs but the fully loaded police pistol he carried - one of the weapons looted during the violent Gen Z protests in Kathmandu on September 9.

Such discoveries are surfacing across the country, particularly outside the Valley, where firearms are being recovered from ordinary homes - hidden in bedrooms, kitchens, and storerooms. The scattered recoveries underscore a troubling reality: hundreds of state-owned weapons remain missing, with progress in retrieving them slow and uneven.

According to police sources, over 1,200 firearms were lost during the nationwide unrest. Roughly ...