Six Individuals Detained After €12 Million Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in France

A team of six suspects equipped with high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a gold treatment facility located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to affect France.

The audacious robbery was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers rapidly detaining the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot assessed at around €12 million (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the perpetrators raided.

Those arrested, believed to be seasoned offenders, were detained soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female accomplice who participated in the raid was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.

“Six individuals who utilized explosives in an attack on a gold refining facility in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister announced via X, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.

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

The heist took place as French police on the same day apprehended five additional individuals, including a primary suspect, in relation to the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four thieves who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on 19 October, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88 million.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month forced their way into the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in France regarding lax security at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.