SA police target bikie drug trade

South Australian police will crack down on bikie gangs with a new $3 million squad funded by the federal government.

The Adelaide-based team, which will include eight officers from SAPOL, the Australian Federal Police and the tax office, will target illegal activity by outlaw motorcycle gangs.

"They are violent predators who profit from the misery of drug trafficking," federal justice minister Michael Keenan told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.

Mr Keenan said the new squad would allow greater co-operation with international authorities, as well as the interception of money associated with the illegal drug market.

Investigations by the strike teams already established in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia had led to the arrest of more than 1000 offenders and the seizure of more than 500 guns and millions of dollars in cash.

"Members of these gangs believe that they can operate outside of the law," Mr Keenan said.

"They can't, and the government is coming for them if they think that they can."