POLICE divers who plunged into the Johnstone River at the weekend have revealed they kept their eyes peeled for crocs during their work.

Two SES boats, two police boats, an Environmental Protection Agency craft and a host of plain clothes spotters stationed on Innisfail’s Geraldton Bridge watched for the reptiles as a five-man dive team searched waters opposite the town’s hospital about 1pm on Sunday.

Innisfail district Insp David Tucker remained tight-lipped on results of the search, believed to have been a quest to retrieve a weapon used in a brawl earlier this year.

"With the nature of this investigation, it could impede the investigation if we release any further details," he said.

But he acknowledged testing conditions in the known croc hot-spot.

"All of the rivers up here and our Johnstone River create a few challenges with our wonderful crocodiles," Insp Tucker said. "It’s pretty dangerous stuff."

Queensland Police Diving Squad Sen-Constable Rick Murdoch told The Cairns Post a number of officers kept lookout during the operation.

"All you can really do if there’s danger is to get out of the water," he said.

As an extra precaution, Sen-Constable Murdoch said the EPA surveyed the area for crocs the evening and morning before the dive.

"They’re there," he said. "We had one sighting, a small juvenile."

Divers felt "some apprehension" in the zero-visibility conditions searching along the riverbed by feel, Sen-Constable Murdoch said.

"You’re going into the dark, into the unknown," he said.

"There’s no visibility. Searching’s all done by feel. It’s all in the dark."

"We dived at low tide.

"It’s the time of day they’re (the crocs) sitting on the banks sunning themselves.

"And this time of year, I’ve been told they go off their food."

View Cairns crocs picture gallery

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