Imtiaz Mohammed, 59, and his luxury, burgundy Lincoln Town car are a daily fixture at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad and the Cruise Ship Complex on the Port-of-Spain waterfront.
Dressed in the white and black uniform of the St Christopher’s Taxi Co-operative Society, Mohammed, driver/tour guide, transports tourists to and from the Hyatt and the Cruise Ship Complex every day. He is courteous and professional as he goes about taking tourists sightseeing in different parts of the country.
However, he also carries a strange peace about him and he is always ready to tell anyone willing to listen the reason behind it. Mohammed said he once roamed the sleazy alleys of San Juan as a hopeless cocaine addict.
One desperate night, after many years of being a slave to drugs, he had an eight-hour ordeal with his God. It was only after that experience that he completely lost all desire for drugs, he said.
“For seven-and-a-half to eight hours I challenged Him, telling Him to fix me or don’t let me wake up in the morning.”
Recalling the story, Mohammed said from a young age he lived close to a notorious San Juan drug empire (now crashed). He was promoted to manager of a popular fruit and vegetable stall the drug lord operated in the area and, by 21, he was married. He had also become a desperate drug addict.
“I started off with marijuana and then I started mixing cocaine with it. I would buy the coke, bake it in a test tube, mash it up and mix it with the weed.”
Mohammed said he got a nice feeling when he smoked that combination but it was never as nice as the first time he smoked coke. Sub-standard cocaine was responsible for that, he said.
“Pushers mix the coke with baking soda and glucose sugar. When you get hooked it’s very hard to decipher the difference.”
The night his life changed
Mohammed reached a point where he began to steal and beg from relatives to support his habit. “People on the drug block also gave me weed.”
In the meantime, his family life was crumbling. He had a beautiful three-year-old daughter but neglected her, he said.
“I used to walk the streets at nights about a hundred times buying cocaine. I would buy five straws at $50 a straw or some times $100 a straw.
“I would go in the bush, bake it and smoke it. I would not buy milk for my daughter. I would take the money for coke.
“I always wanted to come out of drugs and always tried in my own way but anytime I made up my mind, the boss used to pass by my house with a gun resting on his car seat and tell me, ‘Kid, I have the hardest here. I have the best Colombian weed.’”
One night Mohammed’s life was to change forever. He smoked his cocaine and weed, as usual, and put on the television to watch the news. He was high.
“But there was no news. Instead, an American evangelist and a local pastor were conducting a programme. They talked about how powerful God is.
“It sounded good in my ears. I taped the show and when everybody was asleep, played it over and over again.
“Late into the night, I kneeled down in front the television and decided to challenge God. I said, ‘Father, if you can’t deliver me tonight, take my life, don’t let me wake up in the morning.’
“I cried out to Him like this for nearly eight hours.”
Mohammed said afterwards he felt a light travelling down his spine and something coming out his chest.
“When I got up from my knees I was a brand new man,” he said.
Mohammed went on to reopen his car repair business and build a house for his family.
“I bought the Lincoln Town Car and eventually did what my father did. He used to work as driver at the Hilton.”
As he goes around on his daily trips, Mohammed shares this story with almost everyone he meets, giving hope.