Man in court charged over €1.4m gold bullion discovery

By Cate McCurry, PA

A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the discovery of €1.4 million worth of gold bullion at business premises in Dublin.

Some €460,000 in cash and €210,000 worth of suspected cocaine and ecstasy were also seized during the operation at the weekend.

Farhats Bathijevs (55) appeared before Blanchardstown District Court on Monday.

Mr Bathijevs, who has an address in Earlsfort Court in Lucan, was arrested on Friday by the Dublin crime response team.

Some 18kg of gold bars and coins, valued at about €1,375,218, were discovered in a vault south of the city. The drugs were found during searches of a residential property.

Mr Bathijevs is facing a number of charges.

Three relate to money laundering and two to theft and fraud relating to false documents.

He is also charged with two counts of possession of drugs and two counts of supply of cocaine and ecstasy.

Garda Sean McElroy told the court that the accused was arrested at Ronanstown Garda Station on Friday shortly after 7pm.

Defence solicitor Ciaran McLaughlin said there was no application for bail.

An application for legal aid was made, but there was a request for statement of means and a decision on the legal aid will be made at a future date.

District Judge David McHugh remanded Mr Bathijevs into custody, to appear via video link from Cloverhill prison on Friday.

Two women were also arrested in connection with the seizure at the weekend.

The women, in their 30s and 50s, were arrested on Monday in the Dublin area.

Both are being detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at garda stations in the Dublin region and can be held for up to seven days.