Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant broad daylight robbery to affect France.

The daring raid was carried out on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5 million), as stated by authorities.

Five employees of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three employees required hospital checks for evaluation, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the perpetrators raided.

Those arrested, considered seasoned offenders, were taken into custody a brief time later in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice involved in the heist was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in a raid against a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in relation to the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Many investigative personnel have been pursuing four thieves who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments holding high-value objects.