CANBERRA - Mick Keelty, Australian supercop and the man who took the federal police global in the war against terrorism, drugs and transnational crime, will quit in five months.

Much honoured at home and abroad, Keelty took over as federal police commissioner just as the world exploded with the September 11 and Bali terror attacks and presided over a massive build-up in staff, reach, and powers.

But he has also been dogged by controversy and criticism over key operations - including the bungled prosecution of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef - and attacked for his views by some powerful politicians.

Keelty has quit well ahead of the 2011 expiry of his contract, sparking claims that he was pushed or at least made to resign early by the furore that followed the Haneef affair.

Both suggestions have been denied.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said after the news broke yesterday that he would have been happy to keep Keelty on, and Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the resignation was "entirely the decision of the commissioner".

The Australian Federal Police brief includes terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, money-laundering, people smuggling and organised crime, and is now expanding heavily into high-tech and cyber crime.

Keelty, 54, joined the Canberra police 35 years ago and worked his way up to take the helm in 2001 - the first commissioner to come up the hard way and the only one to serve two terms.

Trained also by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Keelty presided over the dramatic expansion that followed September 11 and Bali.

His agents were key players in the series of arrests and trials of alleged Islamic terror cells in Australia, and in the investigations that led to the capture and execution of the Bali bombers.

Under Keelty, the AFP's annual budget has ballooned to more than A$1 billion. He opened posts in 26 countries, and moved to boost law enforcement in Southeast Asia through such initiatives as the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Co-operation.

Keelty has also worked hard to develop personal friendships and associations to develop close working ties with key neighbours such as Indonesia, leading a journalist to once describe him as "Australia's top diplomat" in Southeast Asia. Keelty himself told ABC radio that golf had led to the success of the Bali bombing investigation.

Several months before the attack that killed 202 people - including 88 Australians and three New Zealanders - he played golf with Indonesia's national police head, General D'ai Bachtiar, and discussed future co-operation. The conversation led to an offer of training in post-blast analysis by AFP agents.