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

A team of six suspects carrying military-grade weapons used explosive devices to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what appears to be the latest high-profile daytime heist to affect the country.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items assessed at around 12 million euros (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five staff members of the gold refining company received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three of them required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the robbers attacked.

The individuals, considered experienced criminals, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice who took part in the heist was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in a raid against a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the French interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in relation to the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Numerous detectives have been pursuing four robbers who utilized a lorry with a hydraulic lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in regarding the theft, prosecutors stated.

This series of robberies has generated apprehension in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.