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

A team of six suspects equipped with military-grade weapons detonated charges to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five workers during what is being called the newest significant daylight theft to occur in the nation.

The bold operation was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot estimated to be worth €12 million (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five workers of the gold refining company received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, considered experienced criminals, were detained soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A female participant who participated in the robbery was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.

The heist took place as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in relation to the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four thieves who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on 19 October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A young Chinese female was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.