The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to operate secretly to expose a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was operating convenience stores, hair salons and car washes throughout Britain, and sought to discover more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to be employed, looking to purchase and manage a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to discover how easy it is for a person in these conditions to set up and manage a business on the commercial area in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who stated that he could eliminate government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those employing unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to play a role in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to say that they don't characterize Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter came to the UK without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at risk.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been anxious that the probe could worsen conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He states this particularly affected him when he discovered that far-right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Placards and banners could be observed at the gathering, displaying "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish community and explain it has sparked intense frustration for certain individuals. One social media comment they found stated: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered claims that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and profoundly troubled about the actions of such people."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are escaping political oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the UK, struggled for many years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to official guidance.

"Realistically stating, this isn't adequate to support a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from employment, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to work in the unofficial market for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the authorities stated: "We make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - doing so would create an motivation for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be processed with nearly a one-third taking over 12 months, according to official figures from the spring this current year.

Saman explains working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been quite straightforward to achieve, but he informed us he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals expended all their savings to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

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