Safeway was mum on the report of an SEC probe.

Published reports said that the securities and Exchange Commission, as part of its insider trading investigation, has asked for details about attempts to take over the giant supermarket chain. Felicia del Campo, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain, said Safeway would make no comment. Unidentified sources said that the SEC recently asked Oakland-based Safeway to provide details about the sequence of takeover events at the company last July and that the inquiry is part of the commission’s wide-ranging investigation of takeover deals involving the investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert.