The word for today is…
contraband (noun) – 1. (a) Goods prohibited by law or treaty from being imported or exported.
(b) Goods that are possessed contrary to law or rule, as in a prison or school.
- (a) Illegal traffic in contraband; smuggling.
(b) Smuggled goods. - Goods that may be seized and confiscated by a belligerent if shipped to another belligerent by a neutral.
- An escaped slave during the Civil War who fled to or was taken behind Union lines.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : Contraband first appeared in English in the early 1500s as a borrowing of Italian contrabbando. This Italian word can be traced to the Medieval Latin word contrabannum, a combination of contra- (“against”) and bannum (“decree”). Bannum is Germanic in origin and is related to Old High German bannan (“to command”). Bannan is also related to Middle English bannen (“to summon or to curse”), the source of the English verb ban, which now means “to prohibit” but which once also meant “to curse.”
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