Amid rising street crimes and a significant spike in theft of governmental vehicles, Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar's official car was snatched on gunpoint in Karachi's upscale Defence locale.

"At about 3pm a Toyota Corolla number plate GSD 999 was snatched from near Shahbaz Commercial area," SSP South Omar Shahid Hamid said, adding that Mayor Karachi Akhtar's family was using the car.

According to the police officer, three men in a white Suzuki Cultus snatched the car on gunpoint. "The case seems to be linked to earlier snatching of governmental vehicles," he said.

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The police officer added that further investigation was underway.

At least 27 car theft incidents involving green number plates have been reported during the last one year. Most of the criminal occurrences took place in South district, particularly in the Clifton and Defence areas.

According to a government report, after realising that vehicles with trackers and sandblasting of numbers can be recovered easily, the criminals started targeting government vehicles which do not have trackers and the numbers on their windscreens. The report read that favourite targets of the snatchers are new Toyota Corollas.

In the recent past, the then additional IG Mushtaq Mahar had announced a reward of Rs500,000 for anyone who provided information about the gang behind snatching of government vehicles in Clifton.

Out of the 26 snatched vehicles, only two had been recovered so far.