Six Arrested After €12 Million Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

A team of six suspects carrying assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what is being called the newest significant broad daylight robbery to affect France.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday late morning, with police forces quickly arresting the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the gold refining company were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three employees required hospital checks for examination, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, considered career criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A woman involved who took part in the robbery was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” 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 law enforcement in France on the same day apprehended five additional individuals, including a primary suspect, in relation to this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four perpetrators who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in France regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.