Hong Kong Police Force on Thursday confirmed it has detained seven people and recovered stolen gold valued at HK$59 million ($7.59 million), a day after a brazen daylight robbery at a gold processing workshop in Hung Hom.

Six were Hong Kong males aged 43 to 60, and a 32-year-old female who allegedly aided the suspects by withholding their whereabouts, the police said in a written response to China Daily’s inquiry.

The West Kowloon Regional Crime Unit is leading the investigation. No injuries were reported.

READ MORE: Shatin bank robbery suspect handed over to HK police

The stolen goods have been fully recovered, the police said.

The police said they were alerted by a factory worker at 11:22 am on Wednesday that more than 10 suspects arrived at the Fu Hang Industrial Building workshop earlier that day, and stole 65 kilograms of gold and around HK$20,000 in cash.

Local media reports said the suspects arrived at the factory around 5:30 am, when six workers were either having breakfast or resting.

The suspects allegedly forced the workers out of the factory and locked the gate before fleeing with the gold and money.

Police were called after management assessed the full extent of the losses. Reports indicate that one of the chief suspects is a partner in the factory, and would have had knowledge that a consignment of gold was being processed at the plant.

READ MORE: Fraud cases drive HK crime rate increase in 2023

The investigation is continuing and more arrests are possible.

In two separate incidents that highlight the global targeting of valuable gold items, thieves broke into a gallery of France’s National Museum of Natural History in Paris on Tuesday before fleeing with nuggets of raw gold worth an estimated $700,000.

On Wednesday, a 3,000-year-old pharaoh’s golden bracelet from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which was scheduled to be lent to a museum in Rome, Italy for an exhibition, disappeared from a safe in the museum’s restoration laboratory.

Contact the writer at lilei@chinadailyhk.com