Six Suspects Apprehended After €12 Million Heist on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals carrying assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to hit France.

The audacious robbery occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items assessed at around 12 million euros (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five workers of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three of them were transported to hospital for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, believed to be experienced criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female participant involved in the raid was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” France's security official announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

The robbery occurred as French police on that Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in relation to the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Many investigative personnel have been searching for four thieves who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on 19 October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, taking gold specimens valued at more than one million dollars. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has raised concerns in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.