Military: Indigenous women used for drug transport

Two indigenous women from the state of Nayarit were arrested and charged with transporting opiates in Mazatlan on Monday, the Sinaloan press reported.
El Sol de Mazatlan cites military sources who say that drug gangs are now using such indigenous women as "mules" (people who transport drugs).
The two women, Marina and Elvira Lopez, were found with almost 28 kilograms of opiates and about 33,000 pesos. El Debate reports that the drugs were found in a coffee-colored handbag between two seats, as well as in a black bag under a seat.
El Sol reports that the women said they did not know they were carrying drugs. They boarded a bus from La Mesa del Nayar on Sunday afternoon that was stopped at a Villa Union military checkpoint. El Sol added that the women told authorities that each of them was paid 3,000 pesos to transport the goods.
You can see a soldier standing beside a red-clothed table with at least 10 packets of the white substance, plus an additional amount beside the packets, in a photo on the El Sol website. The El Debate website has a photo of the bus.