Six Individuals Detained After 12 Million Euro Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators carrying military-grade weapons employed explosives to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during what is being called the latest high-profile daylight theft to hit France.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday late morning, with officers swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items valued at approximately 12 million euros (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were at the location when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be experienced criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A woman involved who took part in the raid was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the French interior minister stated online, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as French police on that Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in regarding this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Many investigative personnel have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on 19 October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In another notable incident, thieves last month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in regarding the theft, prosecutors stated.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.