Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic
A team of six suspects carrying assault rifles and handguns detonated charges to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during what appears to be the most recent prominent daytime heist to affect France.
The bold operation took place on Thursday afternoon, with officers quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12 million (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.
Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the thieves struck.
Those arrested, thought to be experienced criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of VĂ©nissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.
A female participant who took part in the robbery was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.
“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.
The raid happened as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in regarding the bold raid on the Louvre museum.
Numerous detectives have been hunting four thieves who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.
In another notable incident, thieves last month entered illegally the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.
The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in the nation regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.
