Montreal police have confirmed that the body found in LaSalle Wednesday is that of Mohammed Nehar-Belaid, taxi driver who went missing on Sunday.

Passerby Andrew Desrochers spotted Nehar-Belaid's body just before noon Wednesday in a vacant lot near the Mercier bridge.

"I saw a motionless body," Desrochers told CTV's Rob Lurie at the scene.

"It was covered with carpet but the back was exposed with several wound marks. I couldn't see the entire body."

Not long after the discovery, police went to Nehar-Belaid's home to speak with his family.

"Investigators (asked) them about particularities on the body or the person of the cab driver as well as clothing, any scars or tattoos," police spokesman Raphael Bergeron told CTV's Aphrodite Salas.

An autopsy performed Thursday confirmed the man's identity.

Montreal police located Nehar-Belaid's cab at Clanranald and Davis Lewis in Cote St. Luc on Thursday morning.

Caught on camera

Nehar-Belaid, 64, left for work on Sunday and never came back.

His Ford Taurus taxi was last spotted at a Verdun gas station on Monday. Police released surveillance video from the station that shows a man behind the wheel of the taxi. The video shows someone driving Nehar-Belaid's car and using his credit card. Police say they want to talk to the person in the video.

Colleagues worried

Nehar-Belaid worked for Champlain Taxi since April and his boss, Gregory Sitaras, described him as a very quiet, hard-working family man.

"Most of the time when they rob a guy they scare him, they tie him up, they punch him a few times but the guy is still alive, you know," said Sitaras before the confirmation of is death. 

Fear

Cabbie Jimmy Skoulos has been a cab driver for the past three years and tells CTV that he thinks about changing jobs every day.

"You don't know who is coming into your cab, whether you're going to make it to your destination or not, is he going to pay you or not," said Skoulos.

"It's become one of the most dangerous industries."

The Montreal police major crimes unit was at the scene in LaSalle, combing the vacant lot for clues.