Six Individuals Detained After €12 Million Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

Six armed perpetrators equipped with assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to break into a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, slightly injuring five staff members during what is being called the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to hit France.

The bold operation was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with officers swiftly apprehending the suspected perpetrators and recovering the stolen goods estimated to be worth €12 million (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five staff members of the precious metals facility were slightly hurt from the blast, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, considered experienced criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of the town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A woman involved involved in the heist was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as authorities on the same day detained five further people, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Numerous detectives have been pursuing four robbers who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on 19 October, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately 88 million euros.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the country regarding inadequate security measures at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.