Six Individuals Detained After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic

A team of six suspects carrying military-grade weapons used explosive devices to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five staff members during what is being called the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to affect France.

The bold operation was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods valued at approximately €12 million (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.

Five staff members of the precious metals facility received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three employees were transported to hospital for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the perpetrators raided.

The suspects, believed to be seasoned offenders, were arrested shortly after the incident in the nearby town of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A female participant involved in the heist was taken into custody as well, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an attack on a gold refining facility in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister stated online, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.

The heist took place as law enforcement in France on the same day arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in regarding the bold theft at the Louvre.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on October 19th, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth €88 million.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, stealing gold samples 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.

The string of thefts has raised concerns in the country regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.