Six Arrested After €12M Heist on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

A team of six suspects using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, slightly injuring five workers during what appears to be the most recent prominent daylight theft to hit the country.

The audacious robbery took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12 million (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of the gold refining company were slightly hurt as a result of the detonation, and three employees were transported to hospital for assessment, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, considered seasoned offenders, were detained soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice who participated in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

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

Many investigative personnel have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, robbers the previous month forced their way into the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.