Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Heist on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A team of six suspects using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what appears to be the newest significant broad daylight robbery to affect the nation.

The bold operation was carried out on Thursday afternoon, with law enforcement authorities swiftly apprehending the suspected perpetrators and recovering the stolen goods valued at approximately €12 million (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five workers of the precious metals facility received light wounds as a result of the detonation, and three individuals required hospital checks for examination, the regional prefecture announced. Twenty-eight workers were at the location when the thieves struck.

Those arrested, thought to be seasoned offenders, were taken into custody a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, authorities revealed.

A female participant who took part in the heist was taken into custody as well, according to law enforcement.

“Six people who employed explosive devices in an attack on a precious metals company in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” France's security official declared on social media, lauding police for their “quick action, authority and management”.

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

The robbery occurred as law enforcement in France on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to this month's brazen theft at the Louvre.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four perpetrators who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting equipment to breach a first-floor gallery at the prestigious institution on 19 October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth €88M.

In a different significant robbery, burglars recently entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples estimated at exceeding $1M. A young Chinese female was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain in connection with the break-in, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the nation regarding lax security at cultural venues and other facilities holding high-value objects.