Six Arrested Following 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic

A team of six suspects using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant daytime heist to occur in France.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday late morning, with officers rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot valued at approximately 12 million euros (£10.5 million), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three individuals were transported to hospital for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, considered seasoned offenders, were arrested shortly after the incident in the nearby town of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A woman involved who participated in the robbery was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” France's security official declared on social media, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were likewise seized.

The heist took place as authorities on the same day detained five further people, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the recent audacious theft at the Louvre.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four thieves who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the country regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.