Six Arrested After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

Six armed perpetrators using high-powered firearms detonated charges to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five employees during what appears to be the newest significant broad daylight robbery to occur in the nation.

The bold operation took place on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12 million (£10.5M), officials reported.

Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three employees were transported to hospital for evaluation, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be experienced criminals, were arrested a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female participant involved in the heist was taken into custody as well, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in a raid against a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister declared on social media, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as law enforcement in France on that Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in regarding the recent audacious theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been pursuing four thieves who utilized a lorry with a hydraulic lift and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on 19 October, making off with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The string of thefts has generated apprehension in the country regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.