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

Two Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to uncover a network behind unlawful main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the image of Kurds in the UK, they say.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing convenience stores, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and sought to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Equipped with secret recording devices, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to work, looking to purchase and operate a mini-mart from which to sell illegal cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a business on the commercial area in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their names, enabling to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly record one of those at the heart of the network, who asserted that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60k imposed on those using unauthorized laborers.

"Personally wanted to contribute in exposing these unlawful practices [...] to say that they do not represent Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman entered the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at danger.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the illegal labor "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he believes driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist explains he was anxious the publication could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He says this notably struck him when he realized that far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, displaying "we want our country back".

The reporters have both been monitoring social media feedback to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and explain it has sparked significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they spotted stated: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply troubled about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to government regulations.

"Realistically speaking, this is not enough to sustain a respectable life," states the expert from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are effectively "compelled to work in the black economy for as little as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "We make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the right to be employed - granting this would create an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can require years to be processed with almost a 33% requiring over one year, according to government statistics from the end of March this year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to do, but he informed the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he encountered employed in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals used all their money to migrate to the UK, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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