A census taker was looted in broad daylight while he was returning home from census duty on Sunday. The robbers fled with his census tablet and other items.

According to the FIR, the census taker, identified as Muhammad Usman, is a government school teacher. He was waiting for a ride at Landhi road after finishing his census duty in the Moinabad neighborhood around 4:20 pm when two unknown suspects on a motorcycle rode in and snatched a plastic bag containing Muhammad’s census tablet, census staff jacket, cap, and his government-issued card that identified him as a census taker.

SSP Malir Hassan Sardar said that full security is provided to the staff during the census. The census taker was alone as he had finished his duty and was waiting for a ride home. He said that the robbers did not have any weapons and fled after snatching the plastic bag.

On March 2, Karachi police arrested a census taker for falsely reporting phone snatching.

Pakistan launched its first-ever digital population and housing census on Wednesday, March 1, in an effort to securely gather demographic data on every individual ahead of the general elections later this year.

On the first day of the census collection, there were reports that technical issues had slowed down the census-taking process in Karachi.