Two North Korean defectors have been arrested for smuggling drugs from China for distribution in the local market, with dozens of South Koreans also detained for illegal use, police said Monday.

The defectors from the North, whose identities were withheld by the police, were arrested on suspicion of smuggling 80 grams of methamphetamine from the Chinese city of Dandong through the port of Incheon, some 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on June 11, and selling it to dozens of South Koreans, according to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency. 

The amount, which is some 2,700 doses, is valued at about 260 million won ($238,575), the police said.

After planting the drug in another passenger's bag on board a ferry linking Dandong and Incheon, the suspects stole the bag to retrieve the drug upon arrival at the port, according to the investigators.

Some 27 South Koreans were also arrested and 56 others booked without detention for either working with the defectors in distributing the drug or for using it, the police said. 

"The suspects said they made the plot to put the blame for smuggling upon the bag owner if caught by the authorities," an Incheon officer said. "They have criminal records on the same charges."

(Yonhap News)