Six Suspects Apprehended Following €12 Million Armed Raid on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A group of six individuals equipped with assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five staff members during what is being called the latest high-profile daylight theft to hit the country.

The daring raid took place on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12M (£10.5 million), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of the gold refining company received light wounds due to the explosion, and three employees required hospital checks for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, considered career criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the nearby town of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice involved in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six people who used detonations in an attack on a gold refining facility in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

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

The robbery occurred as French police on Thursday arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in connection with the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four robbers who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on October 19th, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the country regarding lax security at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.