International crime-fighter Nick Kaldas scores top cop job in Abu Dhabi

Former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas, who has previously worked in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, has been appointed Assistant Commander in Chief of the Abu Dhabi Police Force.

Former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas in Abu Dhabi

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Former NSW deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas has been appointed to another high-profile police leadership position in the Middle East.

The highly experienced international crime-fighter, who has previously worked in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, has been appointed as the Assistant Commander in Chief of the Abu Dhabi Police Force.

Mr Kaldas, who now holds the title of brigadier, has joined the top leadership team as a high-level adviser to the force, which has about 30,000 staff and around 20,000 officers on the frontline.

The Abu Dhabi Police Force, which is led by Major General Ahmed Saif Bin Zaitoon al-­Mehairi, was established just 50 years ago with 80 officers and four Land Rovers.

Their primary function was to guard the ruler’s palace, government buildings and banks.

Since then, the force has expanded its responsibilities and capabilities to become of the most digitally and technologically advanced police forces in the world, making Abu Dhabi now one of the safest cities in the world.

The Abu Dhabi police has also expanded its fleet of cars to include a Rolls-Royce Phantom, E Class Mercedes Benz and some of the fastest super cars in the world – a Lamborghini Huracan and a Lykan Hypersport.

A Lykan Hypersport used by the Abu Dhabi police

A Rolls-Royce Phantom used by the Abu Dhabi police

Mr Kaldas’s appointment, which he took up officially in April, follows his recent three-year role as chair of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

In September last year, the seven-volume final report was handed to Governor-General Sam Mostyn, recommending sweeping reforms that have been almost totally accepted by the ­Albanese government.

Many senior police officers have privately said Mr Kaldas’s appointment to another overseas position is a loss to Australia.

Commissioner Nick Kaldas flanked by Peggy Brown and James Douglas as the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide hearing opened in Hobart.

Former NSW assistant police commissioner and head of ­counter-terrorism and special tactics command Peter Dein said Australia’s loss was a gain for the UAE. “He is a member of the global Five Eyes leadership in global terrorism alumni association. He has excellent international contacts in law enforcement and speaks several languages. How can anyone match that?

“He was often touted and invited to be a commissioner in Australia, but never made it. Now he is at the top of his game overseas, and I wish him all the best,” Dein said.

Kaldas, who was born in Eygpt and came to Australia as a teenager, will be based in Abu Dhabi along with his investigative journalist wife Natalie O’Brien.

He is expected to draw on his extensive international law enforcement contacts across the world, in particular, in the FBI, Scotland Yard, Canada and the Middle East.

Mr Kaldas, who speaks fluent Arabic, has unrivalled police experience in the Middle East after serving in Iraq as a senior police adviser with coalition forces.

In 2009, he was head hunted by the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon to lead an international investigation into the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.

Hezbollah has always denied any involvement.

Nick Kaldas from his March 2025 memoir Behind the Badge, published by HarperCollins, in Iraq with two members of his protection team.

Mr Kaldas’s team worked to uncover and secure evidence presented in the tribunal hearings amid dangerous circumstances, including the car-bombing murder of Lebanese police officer and investigator Wissam Eid.

Captain Eid played a crucial role in cracking the case after engineering a system that was able to track the movements of telephones used by the assassins.

Mr Kaldas’s biggest battle, however, was within his own NSW Police Force after blowing the whistle on an illegal bugging operation that targeted him, his family, hundreds of police, citizens, a lawyer and this journalist.

He received an apology from the NSW Crime Commissioner – where sitting judges signed warrants – but nothing from the NSW Police Internal Affairs that ran the illegal operation called Mascot.