BARE DETAILS OF DRUG WARRANTS COULD BE RELEASED THIS WEEK

British Columbians should learn more Thursday about the drug investigation
linked to December's police raids at the legislature.

That's when Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm will resume his B.C.
Supreme Court hearing of a media application to unseal all the search
warrants connected with the legislature raids.

Dohm released a summary last month of seven non-drug warrants related to
the legislature raids. On Thursday, he is expected to unveil a similar
summary of seven federal drug warrants.

"It's a summary of the investigation," said federal Crown prosecutor
Johannes Van Iperen, whose office prepared the document. "Of course, there
will be no names (listed) and of course if there are no names, there (can
be) no information that would lead to those names.

"It's pretty general, but it gives you the nature of the investigation."

Thursday's hearing of the application by several media outlets, including
the Times Colonist, will begin at 10 a.m. at B.C. Supreme Court in
Vancouver. But some lawyers will also participate from Victoria via a
teleconference setup.

Dohm instructed Van Iperen to prepare a summary along the same lines as
that done by provincial special prosecutor William Berardino, which
outlined the non-drug investigation tied to the legislature raids.

Van Iperen has completed the summary and submitted copies to lawyers of
five clients named in the drug warrants as well as to Dohm. Lawyers for
named clients are expected to make arguments Thursday about the release of
the summary.

"They've not quite signed off -- there's a little (concern over) wording
here or there," Van Iperen said. "But it's nothing that should stop the
thing from proceeding on Thursday and being finalized."

While Van Iperen characterizes the drug investigation summary as quite
general, that's also the way the non-drug investigation summary was
described before its release early last month. But it sent shock waves
through the legislature by revealing that police had been searching for
evidence of possible breach-of-trust violations by ministerial assistants
David Basi and Bob Virk related to government business, including B.C. Rail.

Among the clients named in the drug warrants are Basi and Mandeep Sandhu.
Three other people named in the warrants cannot be identified under a
publication ban.

While Dohm is dealing with five drug warrants, Van Iperen said the summary
he has prepared will probably also cover two drug warrants sealed by Duncan
provincial court Judge Keith Bracken. Those warrants covered the search of
Basi's rental property on Shawnigan Lake Road and Sandhu's former home in
Saanich. The Times Colonist has applied to have those two warrants unsealed
as well.

"If the summary is made available, I assume it would also become the
summary for the Bracken part of these hearings," Van Iperen said. "The
investigation is the same. So that summary is the summary of the (entire)
investigation, not in particular of any one warrant."