Six Individuals Detained After €12M Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in France

A team of six suspects using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five employees during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to hit France.

The audacious robbery took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot assessed at around 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), according to officials.

Five workers of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three of them were transported to hospital for examination, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, thought to be seasoned offenders, were arrested shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

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

“Six people who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” France's security official declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were also confiscated.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

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

In another notable incident, thieves last month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.