Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to operate secretly to uncover a network behind unlawful High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are causing harm the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Armed with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to purchase and operate a mini-mart from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how simple it is for a person in these conditions to establish and run a business on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the operations in their names, helping to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the core of the network, who stated that he could remove government fines of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally sought to play a role in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent our community," states one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized migration are high in the UK and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was concerned the coverage could be used by the radical right.

He states this especially affected him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's national unity protest was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Signs and flags could be seen at the rally, reading "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring social media reaction to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin population and report it has sparked significant frustration for some. One Facebook post they observed said: "How can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also read allegations that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter says. "Our aim is to expose those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely troubled about the actions of such people."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He says he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now get about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which includes meals, according to government policies.

"Realistically saying, this is not adequate to sustain a respectable life," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from employment, he thinks a significant number are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office stated: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would establish an motivation for people to come to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be processed with almost a 33% taking over 12 months, according to official data from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite easy to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he interviewed working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", notably those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used all their savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]