Six Arrested Following 12 Million Euro Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic
A team of six suspects carrying high-powered firearms used explosive devices to break into a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, slightly injuring five employees during what is being called the latest high-profile daytime heist to occur in the country.
The bold operation occurred on Thursday afternoon, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the individuals believed responsible and retrieving the loot estimated to be worth €12 million (£10.5 million), officials reported.
Five workers of the precious metals facility sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three of them required hospital checks for assessment, according to regional authorities. Twenty-eight workers were inside the facility when the robbers attacked.
The suspects, thought to be career criminals, were detained shortly after the incident in the nearby town of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.
A woman involved who took part in the raid was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.
“Six suspects who employed explosive devices in an attack on a precious metals company in Lyon were arrested at the scene,” the nation's interior minister declared on social media, praising officers for their “decisiveness, speed and control”.
Military-style weapons, pistols and explosive materials were likewise seized.
The robbery occurred as French police on the same day arrested five more suspects, among them a key figure, in relation to the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.
Dozens of investigators have been pursuing four robbers who employed a truck with a hydraulic lift and cutting tools to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on 19 October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.
In a different significant robbery, thieves last month broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested earlier this month in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, according to legal authorities.
The sequence of heists has sparked worry in the nation regarding insufficient protection at museums and various establishments holding high-value objects.