Six Individuals Detained After €12 Million Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators equipped with military-grade weapons used explosive devices to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what is being called the latest high-profile daylight theft to affect the country.

The daring raid was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of the gold refining company were slightly hurt from the blast, and three individuals required hospital checks for evaluation, officials confirmed. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, thought to be seasoned offenders, were detained a brief time later in the nearby town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice who participated in the raid was taken into custody as well, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.

The raid happened as authorities on the same day apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on October 19th, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has raised concerns in the country regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.