Lyon police seize 306kg of precious metals and arrest six suspects following an explosive robbery at a gold refining laboratory
LYON: French police have recovered all $32 million worth of precious metals stolen during an armed robbery at a gold refining laboratory in Lyon last week.
Armed robbers used explosives to break into Pourquery Laboratories in the eastern French city during an audacious raid last Thursday.
Police swiftly arrested six suspects and seized 306 kilograms of precious metals, mostly gold, shortly after the incident.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran confirmed the arrests of five men and one woman aged between 30 and 40 during a Monday press conference.
“These are seasoned criminals,” Dran stated, noting that five men had previous convictions including three for armed robbery.
The woman, who has no criminal record, and one man denied involvement while the other four suspects remained silent during questioning.
Dran requested charges including criminal conspiracy and robbery with violence, seeking pre-trial detention for all six individuals.
Officials initially valued the stolen metals at $13.8 million before revising the figure to $32 million, more than double the original estimate.
The laboratory robbery represents the latest in a series of thefts raising concerns about security at French institutions holding valuable items.
A witness video posted on social media captured an employee reporting a “huge explosion” and robbers carrying “Kalashnikovs” to emergency services.
Police arrested the suspects within two hours, recovering assault rifles, handguns and explosives alongside the stolen precious metals.
The Lyon heist occurred the same day French police arrested five more people connected to last month’s Louvre museum robbery.
Paris prosecutors believe small-time criminals orchestrated the jewellery theft from the world’s most visited art museum.
In another recent incident, thieves stole gold samples worth over $1 million from Paris’s Natural History Museum last month.
Authorities arrested a 24-year-old Chinese woman in Barcelona earlier this month in connection with that museum break-in and theft. – AFP
