Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals using high-powered firearms used explosive devices to break into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what appears to be the latest high-profile daytime heist to occur in France.

The daring raid took place on Thursday late morning, with officers quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods estimated to be worth €12M (10.5 million pounds), according to officials.

Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three individuals were transported to hospital for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were at the location when the thieves struck.

The individuals, considered seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female participant who participated in the heist was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in a raid against a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister declared on social media, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.

The raid happened as authorities on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four robbers who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the prestigious institution on 19 October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in regarding the theft, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.