The city has launched a task force dedicated to removing illegal “ghost cars” parked on city streets, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.

Ghost cars — or vehicles that use altered or forged license plates, making them untraceable by traffic cameras and toll readers — have long plagued both city and state agencies, despite continued attempts to crack down on them.

Speaking from a city-owned auto pound in Jamaica, Queens, Adams said ghost cars not only flout tolls and evade speed cameras, but are often used to facilitate criminal activity.

“These issues drive up crime. They are a major impact on criminal behavior as they move throughout the night and day undetected, often being extremely aggressive in their action, and we knew we needed a clear focus and concentration,” he said.

Fifteen uniformed NYPD officers have been assigned to the task force, all of whom will focus exclusively on the removal of parked ghost cars, the mayor said. They will fall under the direction of the city’s Department of Sanitation.

"These untraceable vehicles show up at the scenes of serious crimes like robbery, trafficking, or assault,” Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. "Ghost car drivers have been caught with firearms, caught leaving the scene of a crash, and more. Now, we have a strategy to get them where they’re parked, every hour of every day.”

The group of officers began targeting parked ghost cars eight days ago, beginning on Sept. 10, and removed 295 ghost cars within the first five days, Adams said.

The city will hold seized vehicles at NYPD lots, where they will be “processed and either claimed, auctioned, or destroyed after all investigations are complete,” the mayor said in a press release.