A man has been remanded in custody in relation to an incident in which more than €2 million in gold bullion and illegal drugs were discovered over the weekend.
Farhats Bahtijevs (55) with an address at Earlsfort Court in Lucan, who gardaí believe to be a Russian national, was present for his hearing at Blanchardstown District Court on Monday in connection with discoveries made at undisclosed locations in the Dublin region on September 27th and 28th.
He was charged with 10 offences. Two were related to the sale of drugs and two were for the possession of drugs. The drugs in question were cocaine and MDMA.
Three charges were for money laundering, one charge was related to having a false Irish driving licence and another two allegations were related to having a false Latvian passport.
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Gardaí recovered almost €1.4 million in gold bullion, €460,000 in cash and €210,000 in suspected cocaine following a search operation in the Dublin region.
Eighteen kilos of gold bullion were uncovered from a vault in Dublin 4 worth €1,375,218 at current gold prices. Gardaí believe it is the biggest discovery of gold bullion in the State.
Garda Seán McElroy told the court he arrested Mr Bahtijevs on Friday, September 27th, at his home in Lucan. He was detained at Ronanstown Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
Mr Bahtijevs was released at 6.10pm on September 28th and rearrested an hour and 20 minutes later.
He was later charged with the 10 counts. He made no reply to each charge after caution.
Defence solicitor Ciaran McLoughlin said there would be no bail application and he requested that his client appear before Cloverhill District Court on Friday, October 4th, via video-link.
Judge David McHugh remanded Mr Bahtijevs in custody until that date. A matter regarding legal aid will be deferred to another date.
Gardaí attached to the Dublin Crime Response Team made two further arrests on Monday morning in relation to the case. Two women, aged in their 30s and 50s, were arrested in the Dublin area.
Both are currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at Garda stations in Dublin and can be held for up to seven days.
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