An action that former Chief Inspector, now retired Sarge Downs, had done many years before came back to haunt him in a deadly way. With his family in danger, he contacted Cairns police station's CIB and enlisted the help of the person in charge, Nat Johns. They were baffled as to who was behind a whole series of incidents that took place in Cairns that could have had fatal consequences. A special unit was set up to investigate what was taking place. The naval base offered help and the army even sent a crack SAS platoon to assist. Over a period of weeks, the situation escalated to such a point that large sections of Cairns CBD and dock areas were evacuated. Eventually the reasons behind all this became apparent, but gathering evidence to get a conviction was a real concern.