Report: Drugs not seen in video of Arizona mom boarding bus in Mexico
May 30, 2013, 2:14 PM | Updated: 2:15 pm
PHOENIX — Surveillance video of a woman accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the United States from Mexico shows her boarding a bus without the bags of marijuana.
According to ABC News, which viewed the footage, Yanira Maldonado is seen climbing onto the bus carrying a purse and a couple bottles of water. Before boarding she handed her husband Gary a pair of folded blankets.
Maldonado has repeatedly professed her innocence. She said in a TV interview she has “nothing to hide.”
The Goodyear mother of seven remained in jail in Mexico Thursday after authorities there found 12 pounds of marijuana under her seat last week.
A lawyer, Jose Francisco Benitez Paz, has been retained by the family. He said he had requested a list of the bus passengers and video of the passengers boarding in Los Mochis, and presented letters from people he described as prominent American officials vouching for Maldonado’s character.
He said he was awaiting financial information proving she would have no need to earn cash smuggling drugs.
Paz said a judge would decide by Friday whether to free Maldonado.
Associated Press contributed to this article.
