Prime Minister Kamla Persad-­Bissessar has lambasted the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), firing back at its criticism of the planned 30 joint army-police posts to be installed across the country, and its failure to say anything about the “drug blocks” run by its “mafia friends”.Opposition Leader ­Pennelope Beckles took issue with the Government’s plan to boost its anti-­crime fight, saying the Prime Minister’s announcement of the commencement of unplanned and unfunded joint police and army posts is a “knee-jerk” reaction to mounting public concern over crime.She said it was also a calculated attempt to quietly reintroduce Government’s failed “zones of special operations” agenda through the back door.The Prime Minister hit back via her social media pages yesterday, saying, “To my admirers in the PNM, why complain about the 30 new joint army/police posts across the country when you should be complaining about the drug blocks that your local drug mafia friends are running across the country, poisoning our children?”Persad-Bissessar said PNM stronghold constituencies had the highest murder rates, the highest concentration of violent gangs, the highest unemployment rates, the worst infrastructure, and the fewest opportunities.Despite this, the PNM and spokespersons for the local drug mafia do not want an increased police presence in these areas, she said.“They are against the joint army/police posts, against American security assistance, they spread hatred against the security services, and they do and say everything to allow the local drug mafia to destroy PNM strongholds with illegal drugs and violence,” she said.Persad-Bissessar said the PNM and the local drug mafia did not care about the safety of law-abiding citizens and only cared about the profits of the local drug mafia.She said they allowed 5,000 people to be murdered because the PNM wanted the rich fake elite drug-trafficking financiers to ­become richer.“Sadly, PNM MPs and supporters are so full of hatred and racism that they would prefer their stronghold constituencies and their children’s future to continue to be destroyed by the local drug mafia rather than cooperate with the security services and the Prime Minister to bring safety to their own constituencies,” she said.In another post, Persad-Bissessar defended law enforcement officers.She said, “The denigration and scandalising of our brave men and women of the protective services by the PNM MPs, supporters and local drug mafia is disgraceful and evil.“The law abiding citizens of Trinidad and Tobago love and support our protective services. We thank them for all that they do to make our country safer. May god bless and protect them as they go about their duties.”