The special agent in charge in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Atlanta field office is leaving this month to take another job with the federal agency in Australia.

Brock Nicholson will begin serving as an ICE attaché with Australia’s federal police in the capital city of Canberra later this month. He will serve as a consultant on criminal investigations that may connect both nations, including drug smuggling.

Nicholson was appointed to his position in Atlanta in March of 2011. His last day on the job here will be Jan. 23. Deputy special agent in charge Ryan Spradlin will replace Nicholson on an interim basis.

Nicholson — who oversees investigations in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina — said he was proud of the work his office has done combating human trafficking and child exploitation. He also highlighted the far reach of his office, which has probed a broad variety of crimes, including counter proliferation and commercial fraud.

“I’m proud of the how we have achieved all of that,” he said, “especially… given the budgetary downside we have been in in the last three or four years.”

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