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

A team of six suspects carrying assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during described as the latest high-profile daytime heist to hit the country.

The daring raid was carried out on Thursday late morning, with police forces swiftly apprehending the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12 million (£10.5 million), according to officials.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for assessment, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the perpetrators raided.

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

A female accomplice involved in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister stated online, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on that Thursday detained five further people, featuring a main perpetrator, in regarding the bold theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been pursuing four perpetrators who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has raised concerns in the country regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.