Six Arrested After 12 Million Euro Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in France

A group of six individuals carrying military-grade weapons used explosive devices to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, France, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what is being called the most recent prominent daytime heist to affect the country.

The audacious robbery occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces swiftly apprehending the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot valued at approximately 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three of them were transported to hospital for evaluation, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the thieves struck.

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

A woman involved who participated in the heist was likewise arrested, according to law enforcement.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as French police on the same day detained five further people, among them a key figure, in relation to this month's brazen theft at the Louvre.

Numerous detectives have been pursuing four thieves who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding lax security at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.