Six Individuals Detained After €12M Heist on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A group of six individuals carrying military-grade weapons used explosive devices to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, slightly injuring five staff members during what is being called the most recent prominent daylight theft to occur in the country.

The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with police forces rapidly detaining the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12M (£10.5M), as stated by authorities.

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

The suspects, believed to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of the town of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice who participated in the heist was taken into custody as well, officers confirmed.

“Six individuals who employed explosive devices in an attack on a gold refining facility in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” France's security official announced via X, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.

The heist took place as French police on Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.

Numerous detectives have been searching for four perpetrators who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on October 19th, escaping with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently entered illegally the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the country regarding inadequate security measures at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.