Six Individuals Detained Following €12 Million Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France
A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns employed explosives to breach the security of a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, slightly injuring five staff members during what is being called the newest significant daytime heist to occur in the country.
The audacious robbery was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and retrieving the loot valued at approximately €12M (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.
Five staff members of Laboratoires Pourquery received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight employees were at the location when the perpetrators raided.
Those arrested, considered career criminals, were detained shortly after the incident in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.
A woman involved involved in the robbery was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.
“Six people who employed explosive devices in a raid against a precious metals company in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “quick action, authority and management”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.
The heist took place as authorities on Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, including a primary suspect, in relation to this month's brazen Louvre museum robbery.
Numerous detectives have been hunting four thieves who used a vehicle equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the renowned museum on October 19th, fleeing with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.
In a different significant robbery, robbers the previous month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, taking gold specimens valued at more than one million dollars. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, officials confirmed.
This series of robberies has sparked worry in the country regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities housing valuable items.
