Liberia's President Joseph Boakai has fired three of the country's top drug enforcement officials.

The move comes two days after the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) said it had suspended a chief operations officer after an audio recording emerged on social media in which he is heard allegedly trying to order his daughter be freed after a drug-related arrest.

Liberia is grappling with the spread of kush, a cheap and highly addictive drug.

Bokai dismissed the three top LDEA officials for "administrative reasons", according to a statement from his executive mansion.

President vows to fight drug abuse

Those fired were the agency's director-general, deputy director general for administration, and deputy director-general for operations, who are being replaced by an interim management team.

The move "is aimed at strengthening our collective resolve and actions in achieving a country free of illicit drugs and substances", Bokai said in the statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the LDEA said its chief operations officer was suspended "following the emergence of an audio recording allegedly implicating him in instructing the release of his daughter who was reportedly arrested."

Earlier this month Bokai announced a plan to combat what he said was an alarming surge of drug abuse in the country.

Shortly after taking office in January 2024, he warned that drugs posed an existential threat and constituted a public health emergency.