Six Individuals Detained After €12M Heist on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A team of six suspects using high-powered firearms detonated charges to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five workers during what is being called the newest significant daylight theft to hit the country.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday late morning, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of the gold refining company were slightly hurt as a result of the detonation, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the thieves struck.

The suspects, considered career criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

A woman involved who participated in the robbery was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister stated online, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were also confiscated.

The raid happened as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in relation to the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four robbers who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on 19 October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month entered illegally the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.