Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Heist on Precious Metals Facility in France

A group of six individuals using military-grade weapons employed explosives to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, slightly injuring five employees during what is being called the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to occur in France.

The audacious robbery occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods estimated to be worth €12 million (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the gold refining company were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the thieves struck.

The suspects, considered seasoned offenders, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice who participated in the heist was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an attack on a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on the same day detained five further people, featuring a main perpetrator, in regarding this month's brazen theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been hunting four perpetrators who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In another notable incident, burglars recently entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples estimated at exceeding $1M. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has raised concerns in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.