State Sen. Leland Yee detained amid series of raids in Bay Area

State Sen. Leland Yee has been detained after a series of raids by FBI and gang task force officials in the Bay Area, according to various media reports. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times / )

State Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco has been detained after a series of raids by FBI and gang task force officials Wednesday, according to various media reports.

FBI agents searched Yee's state Senate office Wednesday morning but declined to comment to The Times on the nature of their investigation. News photos showed Yee, a Democrat who is also running to be California's secretary of state, in the backseat of a patrol car as he arrived at a federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco.

Dan Lieberman, Yee's press secretary, told The Times his office would not comment on the FBI raids, which were reportedly linked to the arrest Wednesday morning of Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow.

Representatives for the U.S. attorney's office could not immediately be reached.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr described the raids to KCBS as 'massive.'

'Hundreds of officers are involved in this,' he said.

KGO-TV in San Francisco reported Yee was arrested.

Among the locations being searched by authorities Wednesday was the Ghee Kung Tong Supreme Lodge belonging to the Chinese Freemasons on Spofford Street in San Francisco's Chinatown, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. An FBI evidence response team also searched a building in the 1700 block of Hyde Street.

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