Five youths in police custody after late night Auckland joyride in stolen cars

Police first noticed the vehicles on the Southern Motorway. Image / Google

Five young people have been arrested after two stolen vehicles were taken for an early morning joyride for more than 100km across the Auckland region.

Police first noticed the two vehicles being driven suspiciously on the Southern Motorway around 1am.

The Police Eagle helicopter monitored them as they travelled in a convoy south to Manukau, where one of the cars - a Nissan Tiida - was spiked.

The occupants of that car then fled into the second vehicle - a Toyota Aqua - and travelled north to Orewa - 87km away - before turning around and heading back south.

This car was eventually spiked a further 20km south near Albany, on Oteha Valley Rd, around 2.15am.

All five youths were taken into custody, with one due to appear in the Youth Court today.

The other four have been referred to Youth Aid.

A source told the Herald one of the vehicles had been travelling at speeds of up to 125km/h during the caper.

Two injured in wrong-way crash

The arrests came just before police and emergency services were called out to another motorway incident at St Mary's Bay.

A police spokeswoman said authorities responded to a serious crash involving three cars on the Northern Motorway at 3.26am.

"Police understand one of the vehicles was travelling in the wrong direction," the spokeswoman said.

Two people were taken to hospital in a serious condition, the spokeswoman confirmed.

A witness said the crash happened on the Fanshawe St on-ramp.