Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in France

A group of six individuals carrying assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during described as the newest significant daylight theft to hit the nation.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday afternoon, with officers quickly arresting the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12M (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for assessment, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.

The suspects, believed to be career criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice who took part in the robbery was likewise arrested, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a precious metals company in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister stated online, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on the same day arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on 19 October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in regarding the theft, prosecutors stated.

This series of robberies has generated apprehension in France regarding inadequate security measures at museums and various establishments containing precious artifacts.