Six Individuals Detained After €12M Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

A group of six individuals equipped with military-grade weapons employed explosives to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what appears to be the newest significant broad daylight robbery to hit the nation.

The daring raid occurred on Thursday afternoon, with police forces swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery received light wounds from the blast, and three of them required hospital checks for examination, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, considered career criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice who took part in the raid was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.

The robbery occurred as authorities on Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in regarding the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on 19 October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth €88 million.

In another notable incident, thieves last month forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

This series of robberies has generated apprehension in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.