Six Individuals Detained After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in France

A group of six individuals carrying high-powered firearms detonated charges to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what appears to be the most recent prominent daylight theft to occur in the nation.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday afternoon, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible 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 of them were transported to hospital for evaluation, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, believed to be career criminals, were detained a brief time later in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A woman involved who participated in the raid was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six people who used detonations in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” France's security official announced via X, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.

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

The robbery occurred as authorities on Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Many investigative personnel have been pursuing four robbers who utilized a lorry with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the prestigious institution on 19 October, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently forced their way into the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The sequence of heists has raised concerns in France regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.