Six Individuals Detained Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic

A team of six suspects carrying high-powered firearms detonated charges to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five staff members during described as the newest significant daylight theft to occur in France.

The bold operation occurred on Thursday late morning, with police forces rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five staff members of the precious metals facility received light wounds due to the explosion, and three individuals required hospital checks for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the thieves struck.

The suspects, believed to be career criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the nearby town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice who took part in the raid was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a metals processing plant in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.

The raid happened as French police on Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in relation to this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four perpetrators who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the prestigious institution on October 19th, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88M.

In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

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