Six Arrested Following 12 Million Euro Heist on Gold Processing Laboratory in the French Republic

Six armed perpetrators carrying high-powered firearms used explosive devices to force entry into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what appears to be the latest high-profile broad daylight robbery to hit France.

The audacious robbery took place on Thursday late morning, with police forces quickly arresting the suspected perpetrators and retrieving the loot estimated to be worth €12 million (10.5 million pounds), as stated by authorities.

Five employees of Laboratoires Pourquery sustained minor injuries from the blast, and three of them required hospital checks for examination, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight workers were present on-site when the thieves struck.

The suspects, thought to be seasoned offenders, were arrested soon afterwards in the adjacent municipality of Vénissieux, France, according to investigative sources.

A female accomplice involved in the heist was likewise arrested, a police source indicated.

“Six individuals who used detonations in an assault targeting a precious metals company in Lyon, France were arrested at the scene,” France's security official stated online, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

High-caliber firearms, handguns and detonation devices were likewise seized.

The heist took place as French police on that Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, including a primary suspect, in connection with this month's brazen raid on the Louvre museum.

Many investigative personnel have been searching for four thieves who used a vehicle with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the renowned museum on the nineteenth of October, fleeing with jewelry valued at approximately €88M.

In a separate high-profile case, burglars recently broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold samples worth over $1 million. A young Chinese female was apprehended in the current month in Barcelona, Spain in regarding the theft, according to legal authorities.

The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in France regarding lax security at museums and other institutions holding high-value objects.