Members of a French police unit check the scene of a robbery at a gold refining laboratory in Lyon, central-eastern France, on October 30, 2025. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
Armed robbers who used explosives to break into a gold refining laboratory in Lyon last week made off with metals worth €28 million, all of which police recovered shortly afterward, a French prosecutor said on Monday, November 3. The audacious raid in the eastern city took place on Thursday last week, with police swiftly arresting the suspected perpetrators and seizing 306 kilograms of precious metals, mostly gold.
Six people – five men and one woman, aged from 30 to 40 – were detained shortly after the incident at Pourquery Laboratories, Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said during a Monday press conference.
"These are seasoned criminals," he said. The five men have previous convictions, three of whom for armed robbery. The woman, who has no criminal record, and one of the men denied involvement, while the other four remained silent during questioning, the prosecutor said.
Subscribers only
