Liberia: Boakai Orders Dismissal of Ria, Police and NSA Officials As Cocaine Investigation Widens

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a FrontPageAfrica report from Monrovia, says President Joseph Boakai has ordered dismissals, suspensions and investigations involving officials from Liberia’s airport authority, police and security services as a major cocaine probe expands. The Executive Mansion order, reported July 30, 2026, removed Mark Egon Kuiah, deputy director for operations at Roberts International Airport; Johnny Bolar Dean, police commissioner for criminal investigation, intelligence and INTERPOL; and Patrick Doe, a deputy director at the National Security Agency. Patrick Komasu, a police officer assigned to the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, was recalled, suspended without pay and placed under investigation.

FrontPageAfrica links the shake-up to a case involving a July 21 raid in Paynesville’s VOA Community, where authorities said they found 3,971 plates of cocaine valued at about $317.68 million, along with equipment including GPS trackers, Starlink devices, diving suits, a drone and firearms. A July 29 charge sheet cited by the outlet alleges a broader network involving foreign nationals, aircraft activity at Roberts International Airport, and a suspected coastal operation in Bomi County. Kuiah is described in the case background but, according to the report, is not listed among the 12 defendants and has not been charged.

The report says Dean’s removal had already been announced publicly by Inspector General Gregory Coleman, who accused a senior officer of taking $10,000 to help two suspects linked to the Paynesville raid. Details about the reasons for actions against Doe and Komasu were not provided in the Executive Mansion statement.

The development matters because it places civil aviation, police intelligence and national security personnel under scrutiny in one of Liberia’s largest reported drug investigations. FrontPageAfrica notes that the accused and others named around the case retain the presumption of innocence, and no court outcome has been reported.