Six Suspects Apprehended Following 12 Million Euro Armed Raid on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A team of six suspects equipped with high-powered firearms employed explosives to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what appears to be the latest high-profile daylight theft to affect the country.

The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately 12 million euros (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt from the blast, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the perpetrators raided.

The suspects, believed to be seasoned offenders, were arrested shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A woman involved who participated in the heist was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

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

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in regarding the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.

Many investigative personnel have been hunting four robbers who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on October 19th, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.