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

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to expose a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across Britain, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Equipped with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, attempting to buy and run a convenience store from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to reveal how simple it is for an individual in these conditions to establish and run a commercial operation on the commercial area in full view. Those involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, enabling to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the core of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60,000 imposed on those employing unauthorized employees.

"Personally sought to participate in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to declare that they do not characterize us," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his life was at risk.

The reporters admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are high in the United Kingdom and say they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify hostilities.

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

Additionally, Ali says he was worried the publication could be seized upon by the far-right.

He states this notably affected him when he noticed that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Banners and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish community and say it has caused intense anger for some. One Facebook message they found stated: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

Another demanded their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also encountered allegations that they were informants for the British authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of damaging the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to expose those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely troubled about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping political discrimination, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He states he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government regulations.

"Realistically stating, this isn't sufficient to sustain a respectable lifestyle," states the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being exploited and are practically "obligated to labor in the illegal market for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the government department commented: "The government do not apologize for denying asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would establish an reason for individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can take years to be processed with nearly a one-third requiring more than 12 months, according to government statistics from the spring this current year.

Saman says working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been very easy to do, but he told the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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