‘My anxiety would be through the roof’: The one policing job Craig Bellis couldn’t do
Flying undercover into foreign lands, meeting hardened criminals and chatting with them like it’s just another day at the office would be a stressful gig. Fortunately for Commander Craig Bellis, that’s not his job.
“If it was, I probably wouldn’t be here right now,” he says with a smile.
A 22-year veteran of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), most recently promoted to the prestigious role of aviation commander, Bellis is referring to his agreement to have his face and name used for this story.
He may not work undercover, but he has led teams of undercover operatives who get up close and personal with some of Australia’s most dangerous criminals.
One high-stakes case was the take-down of Moustafa “Michael” Ibrahim – brother of the nightclub tsar John Ibrahim – who was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2020for his role in a conspiracy to import 1.9 tonnes of illicit drugs from the Netherlands. His sentence was reduced to 25 years on appeal.
Ibrahim thought he was dealing with a trusted associate when he declared, “I’ll move anything you want … be your f---ing right-hand man.”
But t the “associate” was an undercover officer. The entire operation was a massive sting, and the drugs – MDMA, cocaine and “ice” – were bait used by police to reel him in, never reaching Australian shores.
As Bellis speaks of this case over lunch at RAFI North Sydney, he is quick to point out that beneath the dramatic surface story of organised crime and undercover agents bubbles a fair amount of anxiety – no matter how logically police analyse and control risks.
It’s the type of work that takes a special kind of person. “It’s still one person standing out there by themselves, meeting with people that are, at times, incredibly violent criminals,” he says. “I don’t know if I could do it; my anxiety would be through the roof.”
What’s the worst thing that could happen when leading an undercover team? Anything that could compromise the safety and welfare of the undercover officer.
“That’s always paramount in everything that we do, so any sort of adverse action towards that undercover officer would be considered possibly the worst-case scenario,” Bellis says, before reminding me there is “a whole machinery of policing that sits behind that deployment to make sure we don’t face that worst-case scenario”.
Bellis has led headline-making investigations that tackle everything from transnational crime and human exploitation to intricate fraud.
But he is also a self-confessed foodie, and RAFI is one of his all-time favourite restaurants, as his phone screensaver shot of himself beaming with joy alongside his wife and child while standing outside the vibrant restaurant attests. It was where the family decided to head for a celebratory dinner once news of his latest promotion came through.
Staying true to RAFI’s share plate-vibe, we order sourdough wholemeal pita and hummus with crispy chickpea and green chilli, south coast tuna with tomato, tahini and fragrant chilli oil, roasted free-range chicken with spinach, jus, guindillas and lemon and a side of mixed leaves with dijon and honey dressing.
Despite the “Lunch with” tradition that the journalist shouts lunch, Bellis politely declines and pays his own way.
He mentions his love of RAFI’s classic cocktails, but passes and opts for sparkling water (he has to return to work, after all).
Among Bellis’ biggest triumphs was leading the investigation into construction boss George Alex. Alex was found guilty of conspiring to defraud the Tax Office of $10 million in a complex “revolving-door” scheme and last week was sentenced to nine years in prison.
How does Bellis wrap his head around the intricacies of complicated frauds and criminal enterprises, often jumping between entirely different crime types? He credits his team members. It’s “not just me chipping behind a computer alone”, he says. “The part that you don’t see is a forensic accountant sitting there, day in and day out, trawling through lines of data to help us understand the mapping of the finances.”
It’s all a big jigsaw puzzle … Sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board and start again. But it’s that collective effort of putting your brains together that makes it work.”
Does Bellis believe in the term “criminal mastermind”, or are some people simply more prepared to make bad and risky decisions? He says he doesn’t use that term professionally, but acknowledges there are some incredibly clever people out there who try to use their intellect for criminal purposes.
Their biggest problem? “The AFP has some phenomenally intelligent people as well, and, in my 20 years of policing history, my experience is that we’re a lot more organised and a lot more effective.”
I paraphrase: “So, criminals can be smart, but cops are smarter?”
He responds, jokingly: “Your words, not mine.”
Bellis never imagined he would end up in law enforcement. Growing up in Canberra, he studied information technology at TAFE after high school but quickly realised that path wasn’t for him.
Friends suggested he spend a year working as a protective service officer (PSO) for the AFP in airports. PSOs use specialist capabilities and data to keep people and places safe, protecting places such as Parliament House in Canberra and defence sites. PSOs are first responders to criminal and national security threats but aren’t sworn officers.
Soon enough, he was officially sworn in as a police officer, and his brief stint became a lifelong commitment.
In a nostalgic “full circle moment”, he’s found himself working back in the land of airports more than two decades later.
As aviation commander, he oversees security at Australia’s nine major AFP-led airports. When Western Sydney Airport opens, that number will become 10.
The role involves ensuring that police have the training, capabilities and technology to respond to hostile incidents.
Bellis describes some of the incidents that police have had to respond to this year alone, including aviation security challenges, altercations on aircraft, and planes that had to return to Australia or their disembarking city due to police responding to misbehaviour in the air.
In the last financial year, the AFP responded to more than 22,000 incidents at airports. “We respond to things like false threats made to airlines or to airport operators,” he says. “You know, [also] intoxication incidents – basically any kind of street offence that you think of that takes place in an airport environment will warrant an AFP response.”
Since aviation is a global industry, Bellis explains, Australia shares many of the challenges faced by other countries. “That’s why we’re really invested and really conscious of making sure we’re connected to our international partners [and] to monitor that global aviation landscape as it does evolve very rapidly and very often.”
With the national terrorism threat raised earlier this year from “possible” to “probable” due to what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described in a press conference as “more Australians embracing a more diverse range of extreme ideologies”, Bellis’ work can be intense. But he has a sympathetic ear at home when it comes to work pressures. His wife works with the AFP too.
She spent much of her career in forensics in the traditional realm of crime scene fingerprinting and biology, but a few years back swapped to mobile phones and encrypted communications and is now a digital forensics team leader.
Bellis said sharing his line of work with his wife has “benefits and drawbacks”.
“You know, everybody knows everybody,” he joked. “But, I think our jobs can be demanding on and off, right? It’s like a bell curve type thing. So I think having someone in the organisation or in the industry that can understand when I’m in my most high-pressure times means we sort of balance each other.”
Sitting in front of a journalist and sharing his story feels surreal, he says.
“I never thought I would be in a position in life where people are actually interested in what I’ve got to say, or, you know, reach a position of such privilege that I’m getting to do these kinds of things,” he says.
I ask Bellis whether he has felt the impact of the global anti-police sentiment that has ramped up in recent years, particularly in the US.
Bellis responds that it is a challenging time in general, with pressures including economic, societal and social media – and police are “only one part” of it all.
“I’ve never been in a position where I feel unsafe to be a police officer,” he says. “I’m glad to live in a country where I can go to a barbecue and tell people I’m a police officer and that’s OK, you know. I certainly work with jurisdictions where they can’t do that … someone will drive to work with their kids, and they’ll search their car to make sure there’s nothing on it.”
He acknowledges people get frustrated and upset about particular issues or government decisions, but he feels fortunate to live in a country where voicing concern and opinion is encouraged, though he’d like the critics to remember one thing:
“I think sometimes we can lose sight of the fact that behind the uniform, it’s just a human being as well,” he says. “I’ve got a family, I’ve got a life, I’ve got interests, just like anyone else.”