Posted: Apr 28, 2021 4:49 PM CT | Last Updated: April 28 Ninety-two cases of contraband cigarettes, each containing 10,000 cigarettes, were seized in the bust, police say.(Submitted by Brandon Police Service) Five middle-aged men from western Manitoba were arrested last week in relation to a contraband cigarette scheme that could have resulted in a tax revenue loss of nearly $275,000 for the provincial government, police say. The Brandon Police Service's major crime section and investigators from Manitoba Finance teamed up for a six-week investigation that revealed a group of Manitobans were smuggling tobacco cigarettes into the province. "These cigarettes are not cigarettes that you could buy here in Manitoba under any circumstances," Ronald Bell, supervisor of the Manitoba finance taxation special investigations unit, told reporters Wednesday.