Why Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals consented to work covertly to reveal a network behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was running convenience stores, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with covert cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to work, attempting to buy and operate a mini-mart from which to trade contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to set up and operate a commercial operation on the main street in public view. Those involved, we discovered, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the operations in their identities, enabling to fool the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate government sanctions of up to £60k encountered those hiring illegal employees.

"I wanted to participate in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not represent our community," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his life was at danger.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the investigation could intensify tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized working "damages the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Additionally, the journalist explains he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He says this especially affected him when he discovered that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity march was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating secretly. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, showing "we demand our country back".

Both journalists have both been observing online feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish community and report it has sparked intense anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed said: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

One more demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also read accusations that they were spies for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the behavior of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to government guidance.

"Practically saying, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified lifestyle," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prevented from employment, he thinks numerous are open to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to labor in the illegal market for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office said: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for individuals to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be resolved with almost a third taking over a year, according to government data from the late March this current year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to do, but he explained to us he would not have done that.

However, he states that those he interviewed laboring in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"They used their entire funds to travel to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these people seemed desperate.

"If [they] declare you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]