Six Suspects Apprehended After €12M Heist on Precious Metals Facility in France

Six armed perpetrators carrying assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to occur in the country.

The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12M (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five workers of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three of them were transported to hospital for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, considered experienced criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A woman involved involved in the heist was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six people who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were likewise seized.

The robbery occurred as authorities on Thursday arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in connection with the recent audacious theft at the Louvre.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with jewelry valued at approximately €88 million.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has raised concerns in the nation regarding lax security at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.