Six Individuals Detained Following 12 Million Euro Robbery on Gold Processing Laboratory in France
A group of six individuals using military-grade weapons used explosive devices to break into a gold treatment facility located in the city of Lyon, causing light wounds to five workers during what appears to be the newest significant daylight theft to affect France.
The daring raid was carried out on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items valued at approximately €12 million (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.
Five workers of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries as a result of the detonation, and three employees required hospital checks for assessment, according to regional authorities. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the thieves struck.
The individuals, believed to be career criminals, were detained shortly after the incident in the adjacent municipality of VĂ©nissieux, according to investigative sources.
A female participant who participated in the raid was likewise arrested, officers confirmed.
“Six people who employed explosive devices in an assault targeting a precious metals company in the Lyon area were arrested at the scene,” the French interior minister stated online, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.
High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were also confiscated.
The raid happened as authorities on that Thursday detained five further people, including a primary suspect, in relation to the recent audacious Louvre museum robbery.
Numerous detectives have been searching for four robbers who used a vehicle featuring an elevating platform and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.
In another notable incident, robbers the previous month forced their way into the Natural History Museum in Paris, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was taken into custody recently in the city of Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.
This series of robberies has raised concerns in France regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.
