A group of six individuals equipped with military-grade weapons detonated charges to force entry into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant daylight theft to occur in the nation.
The daring raid took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and securing the stolen items valued at approximately 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.
Five staff members of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three individuals were taken to a medical facility for examination, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.
Those arrested, believed to be career criminals, were detained soon afterwards in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.
A female participant who took part in the raid was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.
“Six people who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official announced via X, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.
Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.
The heist took place as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, including a primary suspect, in relation to this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.
Many investigative personnel have been hunting four robbers who utilized a lorry equipped with a moving lift and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.
In a different significant robbery, robbers the previous month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, officials confirmed.
The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.
