Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the country's top customs official to shoot and kill drug smugglers, AP reported.

Duterte vehemently denied sanctioning extrajudicial executions, but repeatedly openly threatened drug dealers with death. He and the police leading his anti-drug campaign said most of the suspects killed by the police resisted and threatened the lives of law enforcement officials.

Duterte gave the order to the Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero at a cabinet meeting. Guerrero, a retired general and former chief of military staff, was not present when Duterte spoke, but the president said he met with Guerrero and two other officials earlier at the presidential palace in Manila.

"I told him straight, 'Drugs is still flowing in. I'd like you to kill there ... anyway, I'll back you up and you won't get jailed. If it's drugs, you shoot and kill. That's the arrangement," Duterte said without elaborating.

Over 5,700 suspected drug users and traffickers have been killed as a result of Duterte's anti-drug efforts, alarming human rights groups and Western governments and prompting the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged crimes against humanity. Duterte promised to continue similar methods in the remaining two years in power.