(RNN) - A sailor was arrested at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois on Tuesday because authorities said he took 20 military-grade grenades from a Navy destroyer, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Most of the grenades were found abandoned, but two might have found their way to Mexico.
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Aaron Booker, 31, was arrested by Navy criminal investigators and is expected to be taken back to California, the Navy Times reported.
Booker allegedly stole the 20 MK3A2 concussion grenades - part of a shipment of 60 - while assigned to the USS Pinckney weapons department.
The explosives, each of which contained 226 grams of TNT, were discovered missing from the ship's weapons locker in February 2017 after a routine inventory.
At the time the grenades were discovered missing, he was in the process of transferring from the San Diego-based ship to the Naval Stations Great Lakes.
Booker was among the 16 sailors who had access to the locker. Searches of the other sailors' residences found nothing.
Most of the grenades were found in April 2017 on the side of Interstate 15 in Arizona still in Booker's backpack, but two were missing.
After first denying his involvement, he later admitted the backpack was his and the grenades had been stolen from him.
Booker later told investigators the missing two grenades might be in Mexico because his former motorcycle club had connections to the "cartel," which requested the theft, Chicago Tribune said.
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