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

A group of six individuals equipped with military-grade weapons employed explosives to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during described as the most recent prominent daylight theft to affect the nation.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12M (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five workers of the gold refining company were slightly hurt from the blast, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.

Those arrested, believed to be career criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A woman involved who took part in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in Lyon were caught in the act,” France's security official announced via X, lauding police for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Many investigative personnel have been searching for four robbers who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on 19 October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The sequence of heists has raised concerns in the nation regarding lax security at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.