Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

Six armed perpetrators using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant broad daylight robbery to affect France.

The bold operation took place on Thursday afternoon, with police forces swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12M (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, considered experienced criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female participant involved in the heist was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official declared on social media, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.

The heist took place as French police on the same day detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in connection with this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has sparked worry in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and various establishments holding high-value objects.