Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal main street establishments because the criminals are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided lawfully in the UK for years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, looking to purchase and operate a convenience store from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to set up and run a business on the main street in full view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the operations in their names, helping to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to discreetly document one of those at the core of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring unauthorized workers.

"Personally sought to play a role in exposing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they don't represent us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a territory that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at threat.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali explains that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist explains he was anxious the publication could be used by the radical right.

He states this especially impressed him when he noticed that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Banners and flags could be observed at the rally, reading "we demand our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from within the Kurdish population and explain it has generated strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they spotted stated: "How can we identify and locate [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

Another demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also seen accusations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely concerned about the activities of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He states he had to live on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to official guidance.

"Practically speaking, this isn't enough to maintain a respectable existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from employment, he thinks numerous are open to being manipulated and are essentially "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "We are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for people to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee applications can take a long time to be processed with nearly a third taking over one year, according to government figures from the late March this year.

The reporter explains being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he explained to us he would never have participated in that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended their entire savings to travel to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter agrees that these individuals seemed desperate.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]