YEREVAN, Dec. 1 (ArmenPress) - Seventeen suspects, nine of them army officers, all accused of stealing ammunition from four military units of the Armenian defense ministry, were supposed to stand trial December 4 in a local court in Yerevan.

The group was attempting to take out of Armenia air missiles, which were stolen from Armenian military units. The suspects include a deputy commander of a military unit in charge of weapons, a chief of a military unit's headquarters, chiefs of ammunition dumps, and a missile and artillery service chief.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the key suspect, Arthur Melikyan, who talked the suspected servicemen into his criminal plans, purchased 19 missiles from these servicemen, paying from $2,000 to $4,000 for each missile whereas one missile's real price is $50,000.

The preliminary investigation also revealed that, while committing the crime, Melikyan killed two people.