Police seize 810,000 contraband cigarettes during arrest in Manitoba

A Manitoba man is facing both Criminal Code and provincial taxation-related charges for allegedly importing more than 800,000 contraband cigarettes from Ontario.

The government says in a release that a 72-year-old resident of the rural municipality of Rosserwas arrested on Friday following an investigation.

A total of 810,000 cigarettes were seized and the province says if they had been sold, it stood to lose nearly $239,000 in tax revenue.

If convicted, the man faces fines of between $10,000 and $50,000 and/or jail time of up to a year.

He also faces a mandatory quadruple tax penalty of $955,800 for a previous conviction.

The man, who remains in custody, had also been sought on two arrest warrants for failure to appear in court on outstanding previous charges.

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