FIVE members of a prolific crime gang are being questioned by Gardaí investigating more than 70 burglaries on both sides of the border.

Around half of the burglaries were in Northern Ireland, including more than 20 in Counties Derry and Tyrone.

The five men were detained after a high-powered Audi SQ5, which had been stolen in London, crashed during a police pursuit in Co Kildare on Tuesday night.

The car smashed into a roundabout at high speed and flipped over in Naas.

All five, aged between their teens and 40s, were arrested at the scene with three requiring hospital treatment from injuries sustained in the crash.

The men are suspected of being involved in dozens of burglaries across the Republic, as well crimes committed in Armagh, Newry and Lisburn that are being investigated by the PSNI.

Many of the burglaries targeted Indian and Chinese businesses.

The PSNI had also issued a photo of the Audi and a public appeal for information with the car believed to have been used in more than two dozen burglaries in Counties Derry and Tyrone.

Following a major surveillance operation, led by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the suspected gang members were tracked to the Maynooth area on Tuesday before the high speed chase led to their arrests.