Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic
Six armed perpetrators equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to break into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, slightly injuring five workers during what appears to be the newest significant daytime heist to affect the country.
The bold operation was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the suspected perpetrators and retrieving the loot valued at approximately 12 million euros (ÂŁ10.5M), according to officials.
Five staff members of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three of them were transported to hospital for evaluation, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.
The suspects, thought to be career criminals, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the nearby town of VĂ©nissieux, authorities revealed.
A woman involved who participated in the heist was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.
“Six individuals who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the French interior minister declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.
The raid happened as French police on the same day detained five further people, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to the bold Louvre museum robbery.
Many investigative personnel have been pursuing four thieves who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.
In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.
The sequence of heists has raised concerns in France regarding inadequate security measures at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.