Six Suspects Apprehended Following €12M Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

Six armed perpetrators equipped with assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, slightly injuring five staff members during described as the most recent prominent daylight theft to affect the country.

The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of the precious metals facility were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, believed to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female participant involved in the robbery was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official stated online, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in relation to this month's brazen theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four robbers who utilized a lorry with a hydraulic lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88 million.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.