Six Arrested Following €12M Armed Raid on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what appears to be the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to affect the country.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with police forces swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12 million (10.5 million pounds), according to officials.

Five workers of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for assessment, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, believed to be seasoned offenders, were arrested soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female participant who took part in the heist was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who used detonations in a raid against a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister announced via X, lauding police for their “quick action, authority and management”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, among them a key figure, in relation to this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four robbers who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on October 19th, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in regarding the theft, prosecutors stated.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.