Six Arrested After €12 Million Robbery on Gold Refining Lab in the French Republic
A team of six suspects using military-grade weapons employed explosives to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what is being called the most recent prominent daytime heist to occur in France.
The bold operation was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with police forces quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12 million (£10.5 million), according to officials.
Five employees of the precious metals facility were slightly hurt from the blast, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.
Those arrested, believed to be experienced criminals, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.
A female accomplice involved in the heist was also apprehended, officers confirmed.
“Six individuals who used detonations in a raid against a precious metals company in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” France's security official stated online, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were recovered as well.
The raid happened as authorities on the same day apprehended five additional individuals, among them a key figure, in relation to the recent audacious 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 breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on 19 October, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.
In a different significant robbery, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.
The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding inadequate security measures at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.
