Six Suspects Apprehended Following €12 Million Armed Raid on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A group of six individuals equipped with assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five staff members during what appears to be the latest high-profile daylight theft to occur in the country.

The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items valued at approximately 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.

Five staff members of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for examination, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.

Those arrested, believed to be career criminals, were arrested a brief time later in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A female participant who took part in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six people who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

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

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in connection with the bold Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four perpetrators who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to access a gallery on the first floor at the museum on the nineteenth of October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.

In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

This series of robberies has sparked worry in the country regarding inadequate security measures at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.