Six Individuals Detained Following €12M Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators using assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, slightly injuring five staff members during what is being called the latest high-profile daytime heist to hit the nation.

The daring raid was carried out on Thursday late morning, with law enforcement authorities swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12M (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the gold refining company were slightly hurt from the blast, and three individuals required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, believed to be career criminals, were arrested soon afterwards in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A woman involved involved in the heist was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.

The heist took place as law enforcement in France on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four perpetrators who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on October 19th, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In another notable incident, thieves last month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the nation regarding lax security at museums and various establishments containing precious artifacts.