From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcontrabandcon‧tra‧band /ˈkɒntrəbænd $ ˈkɑːn-/ noun [uncountable] PETSCgoods that are brought into a country illegally, especially to avoid tax a cargo of contraband —contraband adjective contraband cigarettes
Examples from the Corpus
contraband• contraband cigarettes• X-ray technology, the machines, in scanning for contraband, produce a crude image of visitors' bodies without clothing.• One problem with descramblers is that they are not inherently illegal, like contraband.• Once, the only tape recorders finding their way into concerts were smuggled like contraband.• A yacht or fishing vessel would find it quite easy to evade our controls and could carry large amounts of contraband.• Congress volunteers sold contraband salt in the cities.• The bikes were, technically, contraband, but the border guards turned a blind eye.• So far the contraband is low-grade stuff from industrial sources, not weapon-grade materials.• Then there was the contraband literature which constituted research.From Longman Business Dictionarycontrabandcon‧tra‧band /ˈkɒntrəbændˈkɑːn-/ noun [uncountable]LAWTAX goods that are brought into a country illegally, especially without tax being paid on themHe had been accused of smuggling contraband from Brazil.traders dealing in contraband silverOrigin contraband (1500-1600) Italian contrabbando, from Medieval Latin contrabannum, from contra- ( → CONTRA-) + bannum “official order” 