It's been a very long nine days for Arizona housewife and drug smuggling suspect Yanira Maldonado. Late Thursday evening, Maldonado finally received the vindication she had been waiting for all along and was freed from her prison in Nogales, Mexico.

"Many thanks to everyone, especially my God who let me go free, my family, my children, who with their help, I was able to survive this test," she said.

Maldonado was released from prison after being held in custody by authorities for over a week after packages containing 12 pounds of marijuana were found under her bus seat during a checkpoint search. Her arrest caused a national uproar as it was clear to many that the Mormon mother of seven was almost certainly set up.

"It's not Mexico's fault. It's a few people who did this to me and probably other people, who knows?" Maldonado said in comments aired on KSAZ-TV. "I'm still going to go back."

Ever since news first broke of her story, Maldonado's harrowing tale has received almost round-the-clock coverage. It became so widely known and discussed that politicians soon became involved in an effort to free the housewife.

"Though I'm sure this last week has been a nightmare for her, I'm thankful that Mrs. Maldonado's clear innocence was proved and that she is now home safe with her family," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who was in constant contact with Mexican authorities.

Maldonado's adventure started when she and her husband Gary boarded a bus headed to Phoenix after attending Maldonado's aunt's funeral in Mexico. They got very close to the border when Mexican soldiers emptied the bus and began a detailed search for drugs, which they eventually found under her seat.

"I was in shock. I'm like this is not real. This is not happening. I don't know. I thought maybe this was a set-up or a joke or something. I was just waiting for it to end but I realized that it's real, that I'm being detained," Maldonado recalled on Wednesday in an interview from prison.

Though Maldonado's family at one point accused the soldiers of framing Yanira, it is widely believed that a drug cartel is responsible for the incident. Drug gangs will often saddle unsuspecting travelers and their vehicles with illicit substances in order to transport drugs over the border with minimal risk of getting caught.