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

A group of six individuals carrying high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, slightly injuring five employees during what appears to be the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to occur in the nation.

The daring raid was carried out on Thursday late morning, with police forces swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt from the blast, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the perpetrators raided.

The individuals, thought to be experienced criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

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

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in a raid against a gold refining facility in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were likewise seized.

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, among them a key figure, in regarding the bold theft at the Louvre.

Many investigative personnel have been pursuing four robbers who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on 19 October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, officials confirmed.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.