BEIRUT: The shooting death of a man in south Lebanon and a mugging of a passenger in a taxi topped Friday’s police reports.

The body of Saleh Mughniyeh was found after he was shot in his garden in the south Lebanon village of Tayr Dibba, the National News Agency reported. Investigations were immediately launched into the incident.

Separately, two armed men mugged a Syrian man while he was in a taxi heading to Beirut.

The two suspects allegedly conspired with the taxi driver who was driving Mohammad Nasser Fenesh from the town of Mazraat Yeshou, in the Metn, to the Beirut neighborhood of Aisha Bakkar. Fenesh told the police that the two men robbed him of his mobile phone and $250 then pushed him out of the vehicle.

Several robberies of passengers riding in taxis have been reported in the country over the last few days. The thieves have been reportedly posing as taxi drivers and passengers before threatening and robbing the victims.

In response, a meeting was held on Sunday between representatives of a taxi drivers union and the head of the Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi. The union’s president, Marwan Fayyad, said that starting next week police will use digital scanners to detect forged driver’s licenses.

The ISF estimates there are some 25,000 fake license plates being used across the country, according to Fayyad.