The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Uncover Crime in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to operate secretly to expose a operation behind illegal High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they say.

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

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was running mini-marts, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and aimed to learn more about how it worked and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to work, looking to purchase and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband cigarettes and vapes.

They were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and manage a business on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to covertly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who asserted that he could erase official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using illegal employees.

"Personally sought to play a role in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a state - because his safety was at risk.

The journalists acknowledge that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and state they have both been worried that the inquiry could inflame tensions.

But Ali states that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he believes obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist explains he was concerned the publication could be used by the radical right.

He states this notably affected him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be observed at the protest, showing "we want our country back".

Both journalists have both been observing online feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish community and report it has caused strong outrage for some. One social media post they observed read: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like animals!"

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

They have also seen allegations that they were informants for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and extremely concerned about the behavior of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He states he had to survive on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Refugee applicants now receive about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office policies.

"Practically speaking, this is not enough to sustain a dignified life," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from working, he feels many are open to being exploited and are practically "compelled to labor in the illegal sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities said: "The government make no apology for denying asylum seekers the right to be employed - granting this would create an incentive for individuals to come to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can take a long time to be resolved with almost a 33% taking more than one year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman says working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very simple to accomplish, but he informed us he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he encountered working in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "lost", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent all of their savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]