Six Arrested Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what is being called the latest high-profile daytime heist to affect the country.

The audacious robbery occurred on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5M), officials reported.

Five employees of the precious metals facility received light wounds from the blast, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, believed to be experienced criminals, were arrested a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice who took part in the raid was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the French interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.

The heist took place as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in connection with this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four robbers who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on 19 October, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In another notable incident, burglars recently entered illegally the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

The string of thefts has raised concerns in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.