MINISTER of National Security Marvin Gonzales accused Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar of making reckless remarks, harmful to TT's international reputation, as he responded on April 8 to her allegations of a local drug economy that she levelled the day before, on the hustings for the April 28 general election. At a UNC rally at Barataria she had alleged, "Under this government, some members of the fake elite funded by narco money have embedded into parts of the economy, thus fuelling crime. "A large portion of our economy, mainly the underground economy, is financed by drug money. This narco-funded crime is an inflicter of great pain." Gonzales accused Persad-Bissessar of making dubious remarks to seek political gain. "The opposition leader seems to be a very erratic person recently, forgetting a lot. Her memory seems to be failing. "She has developed a penchant, even more in recent times, for making some really ridiculous and unsubstantiated statements, statements that are not substantiated by facts.. "They are just really statements in an attempt to grab news headlines, notwithstanding the fact it might damage the national image of this country." Gonzales accused Persad-Bissessar of having shown no consideration to this risk to TT. "So the worst that she can say of TT, it benefits her politically. "She is not concerned as to the damage it is going to do or it will do to the international image of this country." He said such remarks were typical of Persad-Bissessar's behaviour. Gonzales alleged, "She is one to take pleasure in speaking the worst thing about TT, notwithstanding the facts, as well as undermining our international image. "So it is very unfortunate, but it is something we have grown accustomed to, where Mrs Persad-Bissessar is concerned, and we don't expect her to support what she is saying with evidence." Gonzales elaborated on the plan to buy 12 interceptor vessels from the United States, announced by Prime Minister Stuart Young at the PNM Big Red Rally in Tobago on April 6. "We have been in actual discussions with the US Exim Bank to get financing to purchase some interceptors for the Coast Guard. "We are not too sure of the price but we are looking at somewhere in the region of US$20 million, that the US Exim Bank might be willing to make available to us." Gonzales said the government was in contact with key manufacturers in the US to buy interceptors. "This morning I had a brief conversation with my counterpart, the minister of national security in The Bahamas, because were were advised has similar types of vessels to what we are looking at. "So I spoke to him briefly on the matter, exchanging critical information with respect to the operation of these vessels, and some other key information that we will need in forming up the decision to acquire those interceptors. So this is happening. "It is expected that once an order is made, within the next 12 months those vessels will become available to us. The management of the coast guard is aware of it and they have been actively involved in speaking to some of the key manufacturers in the US." Gonzales said the interceptors would be utilised to venture into areas where larger vessels could not access. "There are some parts of our territorial waters that remain porous as vessels are too big to go there. As a result of that, when illegal vessels are coming in, they understand the challenges with respect to the bigger vessels and they target those small areas that are very difficult to access by the bigger vessels." The interceptors will allow the coast guard to access such areas, so as to pursue small, illegal boats, he said. "That is the whole objective: to allow our coast guard to plug in the gaps that were caused by the use of the bigger vessels." Gonzales also said TT's current big vessels were also limited in terms of their speed. "Smaller interceptors are faster, to go after some of the smaller craft that are used to bring in drugs and contraband."