10 Dec 2012

Three charged after P lab fire

7:35 am on 10 December 2012

Three people will appear in court in Tauranga on Monday after a drug raid turned into a fierce blaze.

Police executed a drug warrant at a Katikati industrial property on Sunday, but the building went up in flames shortly after they entered.

Both the officers and the occupants escaped from the burning building unharmed.

The Fire Service said six engines were needed to bring the blaze under control, and the building was demolished to stop the fire spreading.

Two men and a woman are charged with arson and conspiring to deal in methamphetamine.

Fire Service assistant manager Geoff Purcell told Morning Report it was the first time he has heard of a building going up in flames during a police raid.

He said the fire was particularly dangerous because of the chemicals inside the building.