Six Individuals Detained After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France
A team of six suspects carrying military-grade weapons employed explosives to break into a gold treatment facility located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during described as the newest significant broad daylight robbery to hit the nation.
The bold operation took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot assessed at around 12 million euros (£10.5M), according to officials.
Five employees of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.
The suspects, believed to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.
A woman involved involved in the robbery was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.
“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister 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 law enforcement in France on Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in regarding this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.
Dozens of investigators have been hunting four thieves who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately 88 million euros.
In another notable incident, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.
The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments containing precious artifacts.
