Six Individuals Detained After €12 Million Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

A team of six suspects using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to break into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during described as the latest high-profile daylight theft to hit the country.

The audacious robbery took place on Thursday afternoon, with officers quickly arresting the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12M (£10.5M), officials reported.

Five workers of the precious metals facility received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three employees were transported to hospital for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the thieves struck.

The individuals, considered career criminals, were taken into custody a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice who participated in the robbery was likewise arrested, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who used detonations in a raid against a gold refining facility in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on Thursday arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month forced their way into the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has raised concerns in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.