Oops: Qld cops toss out sensitive docs

Red-faced police officers in Cairns have raced to a commercial waste facility after a filing cabinet full of confidential documents was accidentally thrown out.

Eagle-eyed staff at the Barron commercial waste facility found the sensitive material and alerted police who immediately secured the cabinet, police said on Wednesday.

"It appears the filing cabinets may have been inadvertently disposed of as part of a wider scale removal of furniture which recently sustained water damage," a spokesman said.