Six Individuals Detained Following €12M Heist on Precious Metals Facility in France

A group of six individuals equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, slightly injuring five workers during described as the newest significant daylight theft to occur in France.

The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12 million (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five staff members of the gold refining company received light wounds due to the explosion, and three individuals were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.

The individuals, thought to be career criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female accomplice involved in the robbery was likewise arrested, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in an attack on a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official stated online, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.

The robbery occurred as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four robbers who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on October 19th, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding lax security at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.