Six Suspects Apprehended Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic
A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five employees during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to occur in France.
The daring raid occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12M (£10.5M), officials reported.
Five workers of the gold refining company received light wounds from the blast, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the robbers attacked.
The suspects, thought to be career criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.
A woman involved who participated in the robbery was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.
“Six people who employed explosive devices in an attack on a precious metals company in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the French interior minister declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.
High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.
The heist took place as French police on Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the bold raid on the Louvre museum.
Dozens of investigators have been searching for four thieves who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to breach a first-floor gallery at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.
In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens valued at more than one million dollars. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.
The sequence of heists has sparked worry in France regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.
