Manitoba Finance’s Taxation Special Investigation Unit with assistance from the Winnipeg Police Service have seized more than two million contraband cigarettes after an investigation into the sale at multiple retail outlets.
Investigators also seized more than $93,000 in in cash and two vehicles.
Two adult men and one adult female from Winnipeg are facing Manitoba’s Tobacco Tax Act and Tax Administration and Miscellaneous Taxes Act charges in connection to the investigation. They also face charges under the Criminal Code.
Two of the accused have previous convictions and are subject to fines up to $50,000 and/or one-year in jail, suspension of their driver’s licenses and a quadruple tax penalty of $2,460,360.
This seizure is the largest since the inception of the Special Investigation Unit and represents a tax loss of more that $600,000.00 had the cigarettes been sold.
© News4.ca 2020
