Six Suspects Apprehended After €12M Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

A team of six suspects equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five staff members during described as the newest significant daylight theft to hit France.

The daring raid occurred on Thursday late morning, with police forces quickly arresting the suspected perpetrators and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12M (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, believed to be seasoned offenders, were arrested a brief time later in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice who took part in the heist was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were likewise seized.

The raid happened as authorities on the same day arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in regarding the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four robbers who used a vehicle with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the prestigious institution on 19 October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples 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, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.