Why We Went Covert to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background men consented to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal High Street enterprises because the wrongdoers are causing harm the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with covert cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no right to work, seeking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, helping to deceive the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the operation, who asserted that he could erase government penalties of up to £60,000 encountered those hiring illegal workers.

"Personally sought to play a role in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not represent us," explains Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at danger.

The investigators recognize that disagreements over unauthorized migration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the probe could inflame hostilities.

But Ali says that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he feels obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was worried the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he discovered that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the protest, showing "we want our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking social media reaction to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has sparked intense outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed read: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also encountered accusations that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a charity that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which offers meals, according to official guidance.

"Practically stating, this isn't enough to sustain a respectable lifestyle," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being exploited and are essentially "forced to work in the illegal economy for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the government department stated: "We do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - doing so would generate an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be resolved with almost a one-third taking over one year, according to government data from the late March this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to do, but he informed us he would never have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he explains that those he encountered laboring in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals used all of their money to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've lost everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to work - but additionally [you]