The Reasons We Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men consented to work covertly to reveal a organization behind illegal main street enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no authorization to work, looking to buy and manage a mini-mart from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and manage a commercial operation on the High Street in full view. Those involved, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the centre of the network, who asserted that he could remove official penalties of up to £60,000 imposed on those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally wanted to participate in exposing these unlawful activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at threat.

The reporters admit that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized working "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was worried the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He says this especially struck him when he discovered that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Placards and flags could be seen at the protest, reading "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has caused intense frustration for some. One social media message they observed said: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

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

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely worried about the activities of such people."

The majority of those seeking asylum claim they are escaping politically motivated oppression, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides food, according to official guidance.

"Honestly saying, this isn't enough to support a dignified existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he thinks a significant number are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "obligated to labor in the illegal sector for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities commented: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would generate an reason for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require years to be processed with nearly a third requiring over a year, according to official data from the spring this year.

Saman explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to achieve, but he told us he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he encountered working in unauthorized mini-marts during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their savings to come to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited all they had."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed desperate.

"If [they] state you're forbidden to work - but additionally [you]