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

A pair of Kurdish-background men consented to go undercover to uncover a organization behind illegal High Street businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of Britain, and sought to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Equipped with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to work, seeking to purchase and operate a mini-mart from which to trade contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to discover how simple it is for someone in these situations to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in plain sight. Those participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, helping to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly record one of those at the core of the network, who asserted that he could erase government fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using illegal workers.

"I wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to say that they don't represent Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the UK illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a area that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his life was at threat.

The investigators recognize that tensions over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal working "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist mentions he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He explains this notably struck him when he realized that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Banners and banners could be spotted at the gathering, showing "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online feedback to the exposé from inside the Kurdish community and explain it has generated strong frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they found said: "How can we locate and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

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

They have also read allegations that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely concerned about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for asylum claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now get approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides meals, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly speaking, this is not enough to support a acceptable existence," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he believes many are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to work in the unofficial economy for as low as £3 per hour".

A representative for the authorities commented: "The government are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - granting this would create an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum applications can require multiple years to be resolved with approximately a third requiring more than a year, according to government statistics from the spring this year.

The reporter states being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he explained to the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he encountered working in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals expended all of their savings to come to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

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