Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish individuals decided to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal commercial enterprises because the wrongdoers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the Britain, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided legally in the UK for many years.

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

Equipped with covert cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, looking to purchase and manage a small shop from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to reveal how simple it is for a person in these situations to start and manage a commercial operation on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, assisting to mislead the officials.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could erase official fines of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using unauthorized workers.

"Personally aimed to play a role in exposing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they do not represent our community," says Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his safety was at danger.

The journalists admit that disagreements over illegal migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the unauthorized working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali mentions he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably struck him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and flags could be observed at the rally, reading "we want our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and say it has sparked intense outrage for certain individuals. One social media post they observed read: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

One more demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be harmed.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the British government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter says. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for asylum say they are escaping political discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers food, according to official policies.

"Practically saying, this isn't sufficient to maintain a acceptable life," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from employment, he feels many are open to being exploited and are essentially "forced to work in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the Home Office stated: "The government make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would create an reason for individuals to come to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be resolved with approximately a one-third taking over one year, according to government data from the spring this year.

Saman explains working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to achieve, but he told us he would never have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he encountered employed in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all of their funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed desperate.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]