Bikie gangs have evolved into one of the most sophisticated organised crime operations the world has known.

They make millions of dollars out of the drug trade and protect their earnings and territory through a combination of violent terror and, ironically, recourse to the law.

In Queensland, where the previous Liberal government of Campbell Newman introduced tough legislation to crack down on their activities, bikie gangs challenged the government in the state’s highest courts.

Some of the most notorious bikie gangs have now set their sights on Victoria, a state they see as an attractive place to do business because of the high price consumers are prepared to pay for illicit drugs.

A recent meeting of the joint Victoria and Australian Federal Police was told that an Australian-based bikie gang had tried to buy an Indian pharmaceutical company to provide chemicals for drug production and that some Australian gangs were more sophisticated around the business of crime than their US counterparts.

Trans-national organised crime accounts for a staggering $15 billion in Australia.

With huge profits to be gained from drug production, gangs are prepared to go to any lengths to maintain their interests. It often ends in bloodshed and not just that of other bikies.

At its worst, the Gold Coast witnessed a number of shootouts between bikie gangs that put the lives of innocent people at risk.

Bikie organisations have been allowed to get out of control because governments have been slow to act. And when governments, such as the Newman government, do act they find themselves taken to court by cashed-up bikie gangs with the money to pay heavy-hitting lawyers.

It is not easy to see how the rise of the bikie gangs will be curtailed.

Instead we are seeing them look for new markets and new business opportunities in which to ply their evil trade.