Six Suspects Apprehended After €12M Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in France

Six armed perpetrators equipped with assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five staff members during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to hit the country.

The audacious robbery occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods estimated to be worth €12M (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, believed to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the nearby town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female participant who participated in the heist was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister announced via X, 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 authorities on Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four robbers who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on 19 October, making off with jewelry valued at approximately €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month forced their way into the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples estimated at exceeding $1M. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in France regarding lax security at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.