Six Individuals Detained After 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Refining Lab in France

A team of six suspects equipped with assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during described as the newest significant daylight theft to occur in the country.

The bold operation took place on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot estimated to be worth €12 million (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three employees were taken to a medical facility for evaluation, the regional prefecture announced. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody shortly after the incident in the nearby town of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A woman involved who took part in the raid was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six people who used detonations in a raid against a gold refining facility in the Lyon area were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were recovered as well.

The heist took place as authorities on that Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in connection with the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Many investigative personnel have been hunting four robbers who used a vehicle with a hydraulic lift and cutting tools to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.

In a different significant robbery, robbers the previous month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.

This series of robberies has raised concerns in the country regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.