Six Arrested After 12 Million Euro Armed Raid on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic
A team of six suspects carrying military-grade weapons employed explosives to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during described as the most recent prominent daytime heist to hit France.
The daring raid occurred on Thursday afternoon, with police forces swiftly apprehending the suspected perpetrators and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12 million (£10.5 million), officials reported.
Five workers of the precious metals facility received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the robbers attacked.
The suspects, considered seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of VĂ©nissieux, France, authorities revealed.
A woman involved who took part in the heist was also apprehended, a police source indicated.
“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.
The heist took place as French police on Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in connection with the bold Louvre museum robbery.
Dozens of investigators have been searching for four robbers who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on 19 October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.
In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.
The sequence of heists has raised concerns in France regarding lax security at museums and various establishments containing precious artifacts.
