Six Suspects Apprehended After €12M Armed Raid on Gold Refining Lab in France
Six armed perpetrators using military-grade weapons used explosive devices to break into a gold treatment facility located in Lyon, France, slightly injuring five employees during described as the latest high-profile daylight theft to affect the nation.
The bold operation occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the suspected perpetrators and securing the stolen items assessed at around €12M (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.
Five employees of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries due to the explosion, and three of them were transported to hospital for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were at the location when the perpetrators raided.
Those arrested, thought to be career criminals, were detained a brief time later in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, according to investigative sources.
A female accomplice involved in the raid was also apprehended, a police source indicated.
“Six suspects who used detonations in an attack on a metals processing plant 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”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were also confiscated.
The heist took place as French police on that Thursday arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to the bold raid on the Louvre museum.
Dozens of investigators have been searching for four robbers who used a vehicle with a hydraulic lift and cutting equipment to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, making off with precious items estimated to be worth €88 million.
In a different significant robbery, thieves last month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A woman from China, aged 24 was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.
The string of thefts has raised concerns in France regarding lax security at museums and various establishments housing valuable items.
