Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in France

A team of six suspects equipped with assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, slightly injuring five employees during what is being called the newest significant broad daylight robbery to occur in the country.

The daring raid occurred on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12M (10.5 million pounds), according to officials.

Five employees of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three of them were transported to hospital for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice involved in the raid was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in an attack on a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the French interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in relation to the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Many investigative personnel have been searching for four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on 19 October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In another notable incident, burglars recently entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in regarding the theft, officials confirmed.

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