Six Suspects Apprehended After 12 Million Euro Robbery on Precious Metals Facility in France
Six armed perpetrators carrying military-grade weapons detonated charges to break into a gold refining laboratory located in Lyon, France, slightly injuring five workers during what is being called the most recent prominent daytime heist to affect the country.
The audacious robbery occurred on Thursday late morning, with law enforcement authorities quickly arresting the alleged criminals and recovering the stolen goods assessed at around €12 million (10.5 million pounds), officials reported.
Five workers of the gold refining company were slightly hurt due to the explosion, and three of them required hospital checks for evaluation, officials confirmed. A total of twenty-eight staff were present on-site when the perpetrators raided.
The suspects, considered career criminals, were arrested a brief time later in the neighboring community of the town of VĂ©nissieux, according to investigative sources.
A woman involved who took part in the heist was also apprehended, according to law enforcement.
“Six individuals who used detonations in a raid against a precious metals company in the Lyon area were apprehended red-handed,” the nation's interior minister declared on social media, commending law enforcement for their “quick action, authority and management”.
Assault rifles, handguns and explosives were recovered as well.
The robbery occurred as French police on Thursday apprehended five additional individuals, featuring a main perpetrator, in regarding the bold theft at the Louvre.
Many investigative personnel have been searching for four thieves who employed a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting gear to access a gallery on the first floor at the prestigious institution on the nineteenth of October, escaping with precious items estimated to be worth 88 million euros.
In a separate high-profile case, thieves last month entered illegally the Parisian museum of natural history, making off with gold samples worth over $1 million. A young Chinese female was taken into custody recently in Barcelona in relation to the burglary, prosecutors stated.
The sequence of heists has generated apprehension in the country regarding insufficient protection at cultural venues and other facilities containing precious artifacts.
