Six Individuals Detained After €12 Million Heist on Precious Metals Facility in the French Republic

A group of six individuals using assault rifles and handguns used explosive devices to breach the security of a precious metals processing plant located in Lyon, causing light wounds to five employees during what is being called the newest significant daylight theft to occur in France.

The audacious robbery took place on Thursday afternoon, with officers rapidly detaining the individuals believed responsible and securing the stolen items estimated to be worth €12 million (10.5 million pounds), according to officials.

Five employees of the gold refining company were slightly hurt as a result of the detonation, and three of them were taken to a medical facility for assessment, officials confirmed. Twenty-eight employees were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.

The individuals, believed to be seasoned offenders, were detained a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of Vénissieux, a source close to the investigation stated.

A female participant who took part in the heist was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.

“Six people who used detonations in a raid against a metals processing plant in Lyon were caught in the act,” France's security official declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “firmness, rapid response and command”.

Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were likewise seized.

The heist took place as authorities on the same day arrested five more suspects, featuring a main perpetrator, in relation to the recent audacious raid on the Louvre museum.

Dozens of investigators have been hunting four thieves who utilized a lorry with a hydraulic lift and cutting gear to break into an upper-level exhibition space at the museum on 19 October, escaping with ornaments assessed at around 88 million euros.

In another notable incident, robbers the previous month entered illegally the French capital's Natural History Museum, taking gold specimens worth over $1 million. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was apprehended in the current month in the city of Barcelona in connection with the break-in, prosecutors stated.

This series of robberies has sparked worry in France regarding insufficient protection at museums and other institutions containing precious artifacts.