Six Suspects Apprehended After €12 Million Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during what is being called the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to affect the country.

The audacious robbery took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three of them required hospital checks for examination, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the perpetrators raided.

The suspects, believed to be experienced criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

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

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a precious metals company in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

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

The heist took place as law enforcement in France on Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in connection with the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four thieves who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into 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 regarding the theft, officials confirmed.

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