While the world’s customs administrations prepare to celebrate International Customs Day, the grim reality of the fight against crime stares back at us right here in our own back yard. Just a few days ago, customs officers and investigators learnt of the sudden and tragic death of their colleague Johan Nortje, who was gunned down in his driveway in Durban. Johan was a counterfeit investigator.

It is ironic that while customs administrations spend a lot of time in developing electronic systems in the fight against crime, little thought is in fact given to the ‘risks’ facing the official on the ground. In this age of data systems, proactive risk assessment, and frontline scanning it still remains the responsibility of a ‘human’ officer to make the ‘judgement calls’ and ‘physical intervention’ where necessary. Let’s hope this incident does not go unheeded. It helps little if a lot of time and money is spent on ‘capacity building’ and there is not a plan to retain and safeguard these ‘intellectual’ interests.