Six Suspects Apprehended After €12M Heist on Precious Metals Facility in France

A group of six individuals carrying military-grade weapons employed explosives to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during described as the newest significant daylight theft to occur in the nation.

The daring raid occurred on Thursday late morning, with officers rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth 12 million euros (£10.5M), officials reported.

Five staff members of the gold refining company received light wounds due to the explosion, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for assessment, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

The individuals, believed to be career criminals, were detained a brief time later in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A woman involved involved in the heist was likewise arrested, according to law enforcement.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the French interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

The heist took place as authorities on Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, among them a key figure, in connection with the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on 19 October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently forced their way into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

This series of robberies has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.