'Murder' hoax call costs tallied

POLICE are still tallying up the cost of a large-scale search that was triggered by a false murder claim at Goodna earlier this month.

A man contacted Goodna police early on January 4 to report that he had been involved in a fight with another man on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, near Noel Kelly Dr, the night before.

Believing that a man's body may have been somewhere near the bottom of the steep bank, police cordoned off a large area of Richardson Park before co-ordinating a search of a 1km section of the bank which involved divers, water police and SES volunteers.

They spent several hours scouring the area, driving a boat up and down the river and climbing up and down the banks.

Police also conducted a doorknock of nearby houses in search of possible witnesses.

Ipswich detectives, who had earlier interviewed the man about the reported incident and asked him to re-enact his movements during the alleged altercation, were able to establish his claim as a hoax about midway through the afternoon of January 4.

Police have not laid any charges, however The Queensland Times understands that police are currently compiling a report on the costing of the search.

The report will be passed on to Southern Region Assistant Commissioner Stephan Gollschewski before a decision is made on whether or not to take the matter further.

Police were unable to speculate on how long the process would take.