Why Our Team Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men agreed to go undercover to expose a network behind illegal High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are causing harm the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes throughout the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with covert cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to work, looking to buy and operate a convenience store from which to sell unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to reveal how easy it is for someone in these situations to set up and run a commercial operation on the commercial area in public view. The individuals involved, we found, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, assisting to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the heart of the operation, who stated that he could erase official sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using illegal employees.

"I sought to contribute in uncovering these unlawful practices [...] to say that they don't speak for Kurdish people," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at risk.

The reporters acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized migration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could intensify conflicts.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized employment "negatively affects the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, the journalist says he was concerned the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He states this notably struck him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's national unity rally was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Banners and banners could be seen at the rally, showing "we demand our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the investigation from within the Kurdish-origin community and say it has sparked strong anger for certain individuals. One social media comment they found read: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different demanded their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also read allegations that they were agents for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely troubled about the activities of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He explains he had to live on under 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 shelter which offers meals, according to Home Office guidance.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't enough to sustain a respectable life," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from working, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are effectively "obligated to work in the black sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office said: "We are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - granting this would create an reason for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be decided with nearly a 33% taking more than one year, according to official figures from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told us he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he encountered laboring in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals spent their entire savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've forfeited all they had."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

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