Six Individuals Detained After €12M Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals carrying high-powered firearms employed explosives to break into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant daylight theft to occur in France.

The audacious robbery took place on Thursday afternoon, with officers quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around 12 million euros (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five workers of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three employees were transported to hospital for examination, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, believed to be career criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice involved in the robbery was also apprehended, officers confirmed.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

The heist took place as French police on the same day detained five further people, among them a key figure, in connection with this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

Numerous detectives have been hunting four robbers who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In another notable incident, thieves last month broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has raised concerns in the country regarding inadequate security measures at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.