Six Individuals Detained Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic

A team of six suspects equipped with assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to force entry into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during described as the latest high-profile daylight theft to affect the country.

The audacious robbery occurred on Thursday late morning, with law enforcement authorities swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately €12M (£10.5M), according to officials.

Five workers of the gold refining company sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the robbers attacked.

The suspects, believed to be experienced criminals, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of Vénissieux, France, authorities revealed.

A woman involved involved in the heist was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six people who utilized explosives in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.

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

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four thieves who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on the nineteenth of October, making off with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month broke into the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.