Dealer jailed for exploiting 14-year-old boy into selling drugs for him

A drug dealer has been jailed for six years and nine months after he admitted exploiting a schoolboy to sell drugs for him in one of the first convictions of its kind in Scotland.

Matteullah Siddiqi, 20, preyed on the 14-year-old after having initially met him at a games arcade in Glasgow city centre last year.

The teenager was forced to skip school and stay in drug dens, and was only rescued when teachers became concerned and he admitted what he had been doing.

At the High Court in Glasgow the judge told Siddiqi that the boy had described what happened to him as "mentally traumatic and distressing for his family".

In a statement to the court, the boy said: "I feel betrayed by an adult who I trusted, but who lured me into trouble."

Lord Scott told Siddiqi: "What you did has damaged his confidence and his ability to trust and feel free."

Siddiqi will remain on licence for two years after his release.

In 2023 he was assessed as a victim of child trafficking and exploitation in relation to the supply of drugs.

But, despite his personal experience, the judge said Siddiqi had shown "limited victim empathy".

Lord Scott added: "You focus on yourself as a victim rather than the child you recruited."

A number of offenders have been convicted under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation 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.

The case featured in BBC Discloure's Welcome to Glasgow documentary earlier this month.

The court previously heard Siddiqi met the boy in Glasgow's St Enoch Centre during the school summer holidays in 2025 and asked if he "wanted to start making money".

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

But Siddiqi eventually persuaded the child to team up with him by suggesting he could use the cash to help his mother.

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

The boy lied to his mother that he had a "summer holiday camp" to go to after Siddiqi messaged him, and in mid-July the teenager was taken to a known drug den in Glasgow.

He ended up staying there for a number of 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, Renfrewshire.

He was told to hand out "testers" to local addicts - small samples of cocaine.

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

The prosecutor said the child handed out about 60 testers and was given the phone numbers of drug users.

She added: "He estimated Siddiqi made about £700 each day in sales."

The youngster came back home around 21 July.

The teenager's mother 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 drug den in Paisley and the family home.

After the summer break, the boy was told to travel to Ayr to dish out "testers" to desperate addicts there.

Nicholson-White said the boy's school attendance deteriorated and he was not in school at all for an 11-day stretch in September.

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

The boy later told them at a meeting he had missed school because he had been playing football on his own in a park but train tickets to Ayr were found on his phone.

The boy asked for his mother to leave the room and then confessed he had been delivering "heavy drugs" given to him by a 19-year-old male at a flat in Glasgow's east end.

His mother was "distraught" on being told the truth, the court heard.

The boy was referred to the Home Office National Referral Mechanism - which ensures support is given to victims of modern slavery - and it was concluded he had been a "victim of exploitation".

Siddiqi was spotted by police in Glasgow's Castlemilk area on 19 September, where he was clutching two phones and seemed "nervous".

He tried to run off from officers but was caught. 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.

Siddiqi complained that he had also been "exploited".

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.

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."