Six Individuals Detained Following €12 Million Heist on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A group of six individuals equipped with assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what appears to be the newest significant daylight theft to affect the nation.

The bold operation was carried out on Thursday late morning, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5 million), as stated by authorities.

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

The individuals, thought to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female participant who took part in the robbery was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four thieves who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments holding high-value objects.