Six Arrested Following €12 Million Armed Raid on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic

Six armed perpetrators equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to break into a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, slightly injuring five employees during what is being called the newest significant daylight theft to hit the country.

The bold operation was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately €12M (£10.5 million), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the precious metals facility received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three individuals required hospital checks for evaluation, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, considered career criminals, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice who took part in the raid was also apprehended, officers confirmed.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, among them a key figure, in relation to the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four thieves who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.