Fire razes PDEA's evidence storage facility

Six container vans carrying shabu paraphernalia, documents, chemicals and plastics were ravaged by a fire that hit the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) evidence storage facility in Quezon City Sunday dawn.

The blaze of still unknown origin broke out around 2 a.m. and lasted for almost four hours.

Reports said the firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it spread to two vans that contained acetylene and liquefied petroleum gas, preventing an explosion.

No one was reportedly hurt in the fire.

PDEA assured that the fire would not affect the agency’s illegal drug cases, saying it has back-up copies of the documents destroyed in the incident.

PDEA director Dionisio Santiago has ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire and an inventory of the documents and equipment destroyed.