REID'S OFFICE HIT BY POLICE SEARCH

Nanaimo-Parksville MLA Judith Reid was on vacation when police raided her
Victoria ministerial office Sunday, looking for evidence in a probe into
drug smuggling and organized crime.

Armed with search warrants, RCMP commercial crime, drug and organized crime
units, accompanied by Victoria police, spent several hours combing through
Reid's and Finance Minister Gary Collins' offices.

They emerged several hours later with boxes of documents, which they loaded
into a rented van.

Neither Reid nor Collins were targeted in the ministerial office raid,
police said.

"The search warrants police executed at the B.C. legislature did not
involve any elected provincial politicians in B.C.," said Sgt. Ward of the
RCMP.

Ward said the warrants were based on information stemming from their
20-month-long investigation, and might not be directly related to that case.

He said nine people have already been arrested in Victoria, Vancouver and
Toronto as part of the investigation into the sale of B.C. marijuana to the
United States in exchange for cocaine sold in Canada.

The raid on Sunday targeted Reid's ministerial assistant, Bob Virk, and
David Basi, Collins' ministerial assistant, both of whom were appointed by
provincial cabinet.

Virk is suspended with pay. Premier Gordon Campbell, who is vacationing in
Hawaii, fired Basi Sunday.

Reid, who is in San Francisco, was unavailable for comment but she told a
U.S. newspaper she was surprised by news of the investigation.