The digitalization of organised criminal activities is a cause for concern in the SADC region.

The Head of Operations of the Interpol Bureau in Zimbabwe, Sello Moerane, says it only takes a click for a crime to be committed in cyberspace, with repercussions that can be felt a thousand miles away.

Moerane, who spoke to nbc News in an interview on the sidelines of a multi-stakeholder transnational conference on organised crime held in Swakopmund, says digital crimes have an enormous impact on society and can include everything from human trafficking to migrant smuggling via online job recruitments and money laundering, as well as security breaches and cyber-attacks.

Other forms may include cyberbullying, sex solicitation, and child pornography.

Moerane emphasised that, even with strategies in place to combat these crimes, they remain a challenge to eradicate from the region using conventional methods.

It is therefore imperative that countries allocate the necessary resources, he says, for the improvement of strategies and the development of new methods.

"The age that we are living in is digital, and our policing methods are still manual. As Interpol, we, through our partnership with SADC, are in the process of formulating strategies, instruments, and tools where we are going to supply all member states with border capabilities that are digitalized but also enhance the skills of our member states to manage debt."

The Inspector General of the Namibian Police, Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo, shared the same sentiments.

"Not long ago, we announced that about 26 Namibians were found to be somewhere in the Middle East. They were trafficked—these are coordinated crimes where Namibians here are recruited by people from somewhere else. Here, the people are offered a job, but when they get to the other side, they find themselves either forced into prostitution or forced labour, and all that kind of stuff."