On Thursday, October 30th, a gold refining laboratory in Lyon, France, was the site of an armed explosion and robbery, resulting in five employees sustaining minor injuries. Following the incident, the police successfully arrested five suspects who were heavily armed and recovered all the stolen goods.
According to various media reports, around 1:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, several masked assailants wearing fake police armbands and carrying long guns targeted the Pourquery Laboratories located near Boulevard du Parc d’Artillerie in the 7th district of Lyon. They used explosives to break open the facility’s windows, entered the premises, stole precious metals, and then fled in a car.
The French Special Police Anti-Crime Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) immediately launched a high-speed pursuit operation. They eventually intercepted the suspects’ vehicle in the outskirts and arrested five individuals, recovering all the gold bars valued at up to 12 million euros.
Videos circulating on social media shot by nearby residents depicted a scene of intense explosion, with cracks on the laboratory’s exterior walls and a white van with blue police lights parked in front of the facility.
The footage showed three armed men rushing out of the building, one wearing an orange armband and a cap, another masked individual using a ladder prepared by their accomplices to climb over the iron fence surrounding the building and escape. Another angle captured one of the robbers, armed with a rifle, opening the back door of a truck as his associate calmly placed two black suitcases inside.
In one segment of the video, sounds of people calling for help can be heard. Law enforcement immediately dispatched multiple patrol teams and Lyon’s BRI to the scene, requesting reinforcements from Dijon’s BRI and the National Special Forces unit. The police forensic and scientific department then conducted an investigation at the explosion site to gather crucial evidence.
The local fire department confirmed that at the time of the incident, there were a total of 28 employees inside the laboratory, with five individuals sustaining minor injuries due to the explosion, three of whom were taken to the hospital for health checks.
The prosecution has transferred the case to the Judicial Police Bureau for further investigation. The five arrested suspects are currently in custody and undergoing questioning.
Not long ago, the Louvre Museum in France was the scene of what was dubbed as the “heist of the century,” where several thieves managed to steal eight pieces of jewelry that once belonged to the French royal family from the Apollo Gallery, with an estimated total value of 88 million euros (approximately 102 million dollars). Seven suspects have been apprehended, but seven precious jewels are still missing.