Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to break into a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during described as the most recent prominent daytime heist to occur in the nation.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday late morning, with police forces swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and recovering the stolen goods valued at approximately €12M (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five employees of the gold refining company were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for assessment, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, considered seasoned offenders, were detained shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

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

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were likewise seized.

The raid happened as French police on the same day detained five further people, among them a key figure, in regarding this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on 19 October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, officials confirmed.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.