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Police in Ontario took a new tack in the war on drugs, targeting wholesalers rather than the usual band of retailers, netting a dozen men accused of being the drug dealers’ drug dealers.

Twelve people were arrested and significant quantities of illicit drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and cannabis, were seized, police said.

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It is not numbers and weights that make this project stand out, however. It is the approach. The nine-month probe, codenamed Project Daytona, took a different path than most drug investigations.

The quality of the drugs, particularly the cocaine and the methamphetamine, we’ve never really seen before

Usually, police target a crime group engaged in drug trafficking, for example a biker club, mob clan or street gang. Then they try to root out as much of that network as they can. The problem with that is even if a gang is taken out head to toe, it usually leaves the source of its drugs untouched.

In this investigation, the Ontario Provincial Police went directly after people allegedly feeding the product to the dealers — the wholesale end of the drug trade.