A dealer guilty of exploiting a schoolboy to sell drugs for him has been locked up for almost seven years.
Matteullah Siddiqi was sentenced yesterday following one of the first convictions of its kind in Scotland.
Siddiqi preyed on the 14-year-old after initially meeting 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 in Paisley and Glasgow.
He was only rescued when teachers became concerned and he bravely admitted what he had been doing.
Siddiqi pleaded 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, having once been preyed upon in a similar way to the boy.
Lord Scott sentenced Siddiqi to 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, will also be supervised for a further two years following his release.
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 had a “summer holiday camp” to attend after Siddiqi messaged him.
In mid-July, the teenager was taken to a known drug den in Glasgow.
He stayed there for several days and 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.
He was told to hand out “testers” to local drug users. These were small samples of cocaine.
The boy remained at the flat for the rest of the week.
Miss Nicholson-White said: “The child handed out about sixty testers and, consequently, had about the same phone numbers of drug users.
“He estimated Siddiqi made about £700 each day in sales.”
The youngster returned home around 21st July.
His mum was shocked to find him smelling “terrible”, as if he had not washed for days.
However, he continued to “work” for Siddiqi, splitting his time between the flat in Paisley and the family home.
After the summer break, the boy was told to travel to Ayr to hand out “testers” to drug users there.
Miss Nicholson-White said: “The child’s school attendance deteriorated and he was not there at all between September 1 and 12 2025.”
Teachers became concerned around that time and contacted his mum.
During a meeting, the boy initially claimed he had missed school because he had been playing football alone in a park.
However, train tickets for journeys to Ayr were found on his phone.
The boy asked for his mum to leave the room.
He then admitted he had been delivering “heavy drugs” given to him by a 19-year-old man at a flat in Glasgow’s east end.
His mum was “distraught” when she was told the truth.
The court heard the child was referred to the Home Office National Referral Mechanism, known as the NRM. It concluded that he had been a “victim of exploitation”.
Siddiqi was spotted by police in Castlemilk on 19th September. He was holding two phones and appeared “nervous”.
He tried to run from officers and was caught, but one constable suffered shoulder ligament damage during a struggle.
Police seized almost £3,000 worth of heroin which fell from Siddiqi’s jacket during the struggle.
Several offenders have been convicted under the Human Trafficking Act, but the case is thought to be one of the first involving a child being exploited to sell class A drugs for financial gain.
Siddiqi also admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine and the aggravated assault of the police officer.
Prosecutors accepted his not guilty plea to exploiting another teenage boy to sell drugs.
The court heard Siddiqi had previously been referred to the NRM after being 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 featured in a recent BBC Scotland Disclosure documentary about crime and anti-social behaviour in parts of Glasgow.
Siddiqi previously stood trial in December 2025 accused of the culpable homicide of a former housing association chairman in Glasgow’s southside.
Jurors returned a not proven verdict. Another man was convicted and later sentenced to six-and-a-half years.