Roughly 600K illegal cigarettes seized by Winnipeg police

A 36-year-old man is facing charges after Winnipeg police seized cartons containing hundreds of thousands of contraband cigarettes from a home in the city.

The illegal tobacco was spotted while officers searched a home in the 600 block of Sherbrook Street Tuesday afternoon, the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) said in a news release. It said police were at the home “investigating an unrelated incident” at the time.

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Officers seized more than 60 boxes of contraband tobacco from the home, according to the release.

The WPS property crime unit then took over the investigation and obtained a search warrant.

“While officers secured the suite pending the warrant, the suspect returned (to the home) and was arrested without incident,” the release said.

The home was searched early Wednesday morning. During that search, nearly 3,000 cigarette cartons, as well as $1,500 in cash, were confiscated by officers.

Winnipeg police estimated the total number of individual cigarettes inside the cartons to be around 600,000.

Police say the suspect has been charged with trafficking in contraband tobacco and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000. He was released from jail on an undertaking.