Six Suspects Apprehended Following 12 Million Euro Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in France

A team of six suspects carrying assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what appears to be the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to occur in France.

The audacious robbery took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five employees of the gold refining company were slightly hurt from the blast, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The suspects, thought to be career criminals, were arrested a brief time later in the adjacent municipality of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice who took part in the heist was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six suspects who utilized explosives in a raid against a gold refining facility in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister announced via X, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as French police on Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, including a primary suspect, in connection with this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four thieves who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately 88 million euros.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, taking gold specimens estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

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