Where contraband comes from
Contraband enters the same way everything else does: someone walks in and offers it. Suppliers overstate value, customers push their luck, and stolen goods come discounted if you believe Security will not reach you. That clause is the whole trade. Contraband is not a different item, it is the same item with a risk attached, priced by the seller’s urgency rather than the item’s quality.
The game gives you the alternatives: hide stolen goods and contraband from the authorities, or bribe your way out if you get caught. Both are intended play. Neither removes the exposure; they change when it is realised.
And the display case matters here too. Contraband in the case attracts a security inspection. The case is not storage, it is a shop window with consequences.
The crime file, in numbers
Crimes accumulate on a Security case file, and the thresholds are explicit: under 300 is a fine, 300 to 1,499 is arrest, 1,500 and above is execution. Bribes do not erase the crime — they add a “Bribery” line to the same file. So the bribe is not a reset, it is a second entry with a price.
This changes the maths of every grey sale. You are not asking “can I get away with this once”, you are asking “how much room is left under 300 before the next mistake becomes an arrest”. A shop that treats the file as a buffer spends it deliberately. A shop that treats it as a rumour discovers the threshold by crossing it.
The file also explains why a high-reputation legal shop should never touch grey stock. It converts the shop’s best asset — the assumption of legitimacy — into a number that Security is already tracking.
Inspections follow the product line
Weapons bring inspections. Chemicals bring addiction. Water brings liability. Contraband brings raids. Four failure modes on four inventories, and they do not substitute for each other.
Weapons inspections are a paperwork problem: permits and modifications are part of the trade, and a lapsed permit turns a gunsmith into a permanent audit risk. Chemicals are a demand problem: addiction is a property of the product, so your best customers are also your least stable ones. Water is a quality problem: it has to be tested and filtered, and selling it untreated is liability with a paper trail.
Contraband is a discovery problem. It does not hurt until it is found, and then it hurts a lot, which makes it the most tempting line for a player behind on rent and the most punishing for a player already being watched.
The bribe question
Bribes are confirmed as a mechanic and not confirmed as a formula. Official material says you can bribe your way out; it does not publish a price, a success rate, or a limit. Any guide quoting a bribe table is working from a specific build and difficulty.
The strategic reading is still useful. A bribe converts a confiscation into a cash cost plus a new crime-file line. The right time to bribe is when the stock is worth more than the cash and the file has room. The wrong time is when the cash is your rent, or when the line would push you over 300.
If you cannot afford the bribe and cannot afford the confiscation, the real mistake happened earlier: you took a lot whose downside you could not cover.
A risk register for one shop
Keep three lines in your head: what is on the shelf that would upset an inspector, who knows it is there, and what you lose if it disappears today. If any line is blank, you are not managing risk, you are hoping.
Then set an exposure ceiling before the week starts. A shop that can absorb one confiscation has a strategy. A shop that cannot is one inspection away from a rent gap, and one illegal bust can be all it takes.
Finally, remember that the cheapest risk management in the game is refusing a lot. It costs the margin you never had, and it is the only move with no downside except the deal itself.
Lower Levels Ledger. “Contraband, inspections and the crime file.” Last updated 2026-10-29. https://probablystolen.games/lore/contraband-and-security/