Six Arrested After €12 Million Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in France

A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to force entry into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, resulting in minor injuries to five workers during what is being called the latest high-profile daytime heist to occur in the nation.

The bold operation was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot assessed at around 12 million euros (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.

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 evaluation, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were at the location when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be career criminals, were arrested shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

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

“Six people who utilized explosives in a raid against a precious metals company in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister stated online, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were also confiscated.

The robbery occurred as authorities on the same day arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in connection with the bold raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been searching for four robbers who utilized a lorry featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around €88 million.

In a different significant robbery, robbers the previous month broke into the Parisian museum of natural history, 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, officials confirmed.

This series of robberies has raised concerns in the nation regarding inadequate security measures at museums and other institutions housing valuable items.