Mohali (Punjab), March 6 (IANS) An inter-state gang of vehicle thieves was busted with the arrest of five people and recovery of five cars, including a SUV, from their possession, police said Saturday.

After getting a tip-off, police laid a trap and arrested the five men from Mullanpur town near here when they were allegedly striking a deal for a stolen SUV.

Talking about their modus operandi, district police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said Saturday: 'The accused used to hire luxurious cars from different parts of Punjab and neighbouring states. They would then offer some poisonous substance or intoxicant to the driver before fleeing with the vehicle.'

He added: 'They also possessed fake identity cards of the Indian Air Force and in some cases they also killed the drivers of the vehicles. We hope to make more recoveries in the coming days and arrest one more member of the gang.'

The arrested were identified as Gurbinder Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Nadeem Ahmad, Gurpreet Singh and Taranjit Singh.

Police said they have also recovered fake vehicle registration documents from the gang members.

'They exchanged the engine and chassis numbers of the stolen vehicles with those that met with accidents. They might have links in other states. We will find that out during their interrogation,' stated Bhullar.

Mohali town is around 10 km from state capital Chandigarh.