Dealer who exploited schoolboy into selling class A drugs for him jailed for almost seven years

A dealer who exploited a schoolboy into selling drugs for him has been jailed for almost seven years.

Matteullah Siddiqi was sentenced on Tuesday following one of the first convictions of its kind in Scotland.

Siddiqi preyed on the 14 year-old having initially met him at a games arcade in Glasgow’s St Enoch Square last year.

The child was forced to skip school and stay in dirty drug dens.

He was only rescued when teachers became concerned and he admitted what he had been doing.

Siddiqi pled guilty last month to a charge under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act.

The 20-year-old’s lawyer said he had gone from victim to offender himself, having once been preyed upon in a similar way to the boy was.

Lord Scott sentenced Siddiqi to a total of six years and nine months at the High Court in Glasgow.

The judge said: “I have seen the impact statement completed by your victim.

“He describes what happened as mentally traumatic for him and distressing for his family.

“He said: ‘I feel betrayed by an adult who I trusted, but who lured me into trouble’.

“What you did has damaged his confidence and his ability to trust and feel free.

“Commendably, he ends his statement by hoping lessons are learned to help protect children like him and, previously, like you from such exploitation.”

Siddiqi – who was on five bail orders and had previously been cleared of being involved in killing a man – will also be supervised for further two years on his release.

Boy lied to mum he was at ‘summer holiday camp’

The dealer met the boy at the arcade during the school summer holidays in 2025.

Siddiqi asked if he “wanted to start making money”.

The boy initially refused as he believed the dealer was talking about drugs.

Siddiqi eventually “persuaded” the child about the “benefits” of teaming up with him including earning cash to “help his mother”.

The youngster was given Siddiqi’s Instagram account and later a mobile phone.

The boy lied to his mum that he then had a “summer holiday camp” to go to after Siddiqi messaged him.

In mid-July, the teenager was then taken to a known drug den in Glasgow.

He ended up staying there for a number of days, where the boy was shown how to “bag up” crack cocaine.

Prosecutor Jennifer Nicholson-White said: “Siddiqi would attend the flat for only a couple of hours each day due to having an electronic tag. He would give the boy £20 to buy food.”

The child was then taken by taxi to a dirty, rubbish-strewn property in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

He was told to hand out “testers” to local addicts – effectively small samples of cocaine.

The boy ended up staying at the flat for the rest of the week.

Ms Nicholson-White said: “The child handed out about 60 testers and, consequently, had about the same phone numbers of drug users.

“He estimated Siddiqi made about £700 each day in sales.”

The youngster came back home around July 21.

The teenager’s mum was shocked to find him smelling “terrible” as if he had not washed for days.

But, he continued to “work” for Siddiqi, splitting his time between the hovel in Paisley and the family home.

Teachers raised concerns over school attendance

After the summer break, the boy was then told to travel to Ayr to dish out “testers” to addicts.

Ms Nicholson-White said: “The child’s school attendance deteriorated and he was not there at all between September 1 and 12, 2025.”

It was around that time teachers became concerned and got in contact with his mum.

The boy later told them at a meeting he had not been at school as he had been playing football on his own in a park.

But, train tickets for journeys to Ayr were then found on his phone.

The boy asked for his mum to leave the room.

It was then he confessed he had been delivering “heavy drugs” given to him by a 19-year-old male at a flat in Glasgow’s east end.

The mum was “distraught” on being told the truth.

The court heard the child was referred to the Home Office National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and it was concluded he had been a “victim of exploitation”.

Siddiqi was spotted by police in the city’s Castlemilk on September 19 clutching two phones and appearing “nervous”.

He then tried to run off from officers. He was caught, but one constable was badly hurt during a struggle suffering shoulder ligament damage.

Police seized almost £3,000 of heroin on him, which had fallen out of his jacket during the tussle with police.

A number of offenders have been convicted under the Human Trafficking Act, but this case is thought to be one of the first involving a child being exploited to deal class A drugs for financial gain.

Siddiqi also admitted in court to being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine as well as the aggravated assault of the police officer.

A not guilty plea to preying on another teenage boy to sell drugs was accepted by prosecutors.

The court heard Siddiqi had also previously been referred himself to the NRM having been recruited by a “criminal gang”.

Callum Hiller, defending, said: “He was the victim of child exploitation and trafficking – one of the offences he finds himself now the perpetrator of.

“He has progressed to becoming the offender. He has expressed to me that he feels extremely sorry.”

Siddiqi’s case had featured in the recent BBC Scotland Disclosure documentary about crime and anti-social behaviour in parts of Glasgow.

Siddiqi had previously stood trial in December 2025 accused of the culpable homicide of a former housing association chairman in the city’s southside.

Jurors returned a not proven verdict. Another man was convicted and later sentenced to six and a half years.