Six Suspects Apprehended Following €12 Million Armed Raid on Precious Metals Facility in France

A team of six suspects equipped with military-grade weapons detonated charges to break into a gold treatment facility located in the city of Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what appears to be the latest high-profile daytime heist to occur in the nation.

The bold operation took place on Thursday afternoon, with officers rapidly detaining the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12M (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five staff members of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three employees were transported to hospital for assessment, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the thieves struck.

The individuals, believed to be seasoned offenders, were arrested a brief time later in the nearby town of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A woman involved who participated in the robbery was also apprehended, a police source indicated.

“Six people who employed explosive devices in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister stated online, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as French police on Thursday arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in connection with the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four robbers who employed a truck featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month forced their way into the Parisian museum of natural history, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has raised concerns in France regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.