Bikie laws focus on messages

BIKIES could be charged simply for texting each other under tough new consorting laws which the state’s new gang crime boss says will stop their expansion.

The Queensland Police Service has issued 500 consorting warnings, about 400 of which are pre-emptive.

Gang members don’t need to meet to break the new consorting laws – they could be charged for talking on the phone or by emailing or messaging each other.

It comes as gangs Rock Machine, Mongrel Mob and Satudarah try to get a foothold in Queensland with feeder groups such as the 36ers and Villains also trying to recruit after tough laws pushed bikies underground.

The Bandidos and Rebels remain the two largest gangs in Queensland as others try to muscle in.

Organised Crime Gangs Group Commander Superintendent Roger Lowe said the preventive strategy used by police was having an impact.

“Whether that be gangs, drug networks, paedophilia, firearms trafficking – it has an application across the organisation,” he said.

Supt Lowe said, that despite a change in laws, including the banning of colours, drug and firearms trafficking, violence and extortion were still the types of offences committed by the gangs.

The biggest challenge for police is ice and cocaine being imported into Queensland.