Six Suspects Apprehended After €12 Million Heist on Precious Metals Facility in France

A team of six suspects carrying military-grade weapons employed explosives to breach the security of a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, causing light wounds to five staff members during described as the most recent prominent broad daylight robbery to occur in the country.

The audacious robbery occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with officers swiftly apprehending the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods valued at approximately 12 million euros (£10.5 million), officials reported.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three employees required hospital checks for assessment, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the perpetrators raided.

Those arrested, thought to be seasoned offenders, were arrested soon afterwards in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female participant who took part in the robbery was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.

“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant in Lyon, France were caught in the act,” the nation's interior minister stated online, lauding police for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.

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

The raid happened as law enforcement in France on that Thursday detained five further people, among them a key figure, in connection with the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.

Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four thieves who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the museum on October 19th, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a separate high-profile case, robbers the previous month forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples valued at more than one million dollars. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in regarding the theft, prosecutors stated.

The string of thefts has sparked worry in the nation regarding lax security at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.