Six Arrested Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France

A group of six individuals equipped with high-powered firearms detonated charges to break into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during what is being called the latest high-profile daytime heist to occur in the country.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday late morning, with police forces swiftly apprehending the suspected perpetrators and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12M (£10.5 million), officials reported.

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

Those arrested, thought to be seasoned offenders, were detained shortly after the incident in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A woman involved who participated in the heist was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in a raid against a precious metals company in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.

The robbery occurred as law enforcement in France on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the bold theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been hunting four robbers who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on 19 October, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In another notable incident, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has generated apprehension in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments containing precious artifacts.