Drugs syndicates may have tricked the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) into conducting a buy-bust which resulted in the shootout between the two anti-narcotics forces in Quezon City on Wednesday, Feb 24.
The clash resulted in the death of two policemen, a PDEA agent and an informant of the PDEA. Another policeman and three other PDEA agents were also wounded.
PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva said they are now looking at all possible angles that led to the misencounter between the PDEA Special Enforcement Unit and the members of the District Special Operations Unit of the Quezon City Police District.
“It is too early to say that we were toyed with (by drug syndicates), this is the subject of our investigation. But it is possible that we were toyed with here,” said Villanueva in a press briefing with PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Thursday, Feb 25.
He said that there were cases in the past that drugs syndicates were able to set up PDEA agents.
Another part of the investigation, according to Villanueva, is that the informants used by both the police and the PDEA may have been fed with the wrong information which was relayed to their respective handlers.
“This is the reason why we are conducting a thorough investigation. We want to find out what went wrong and who could be held liable because there are casualties here,” said Villanueva.
Both the PNP and the PDEA have agreed to create a Board of Inquiry to look into the incident.
“In the interest of determining the truth behind the incident, a joint PNP-PDEA Board of Inquiry will be formed to determine what transpired and who should be held liable,” said Sinas.