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

Two Kurdish individuals decided to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal High Street businesses because the criminals are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the Britain, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for many years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was running convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the United Kingdom, and sought to learn more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Armed with covert cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, looking to purchase and manage a small shop from which to sell contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these conditions to set up and run a enterprise on the High Street in public view. The individuals participating, we found, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the businesses in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to covertly document one of those at the heart of the organization, who stated that he could remove government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those using illegal employees.

"I wanted to contribute in uncovering these unlawful practices [...] to declare that they don't represent our community," says one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter came to the country without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been anxious that the inquiry could intensify tensions.

But Ali explains that the unauthorized labor "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he considers compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the extreme right.

He says this notably affected him when he discovered that radical right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working covertly. Placards and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish-origin population and report it has caused strong anger for certain individuals. One social media post they found read: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the British authorities, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish-origin population," Saman states. "Our goal is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply troubled about the behavior of such persons."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which provides food, according to Home Office guidance.

"Realistically speaking, this is not enough to support a respectable existence," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from employment, he believes many are susceptible to being manipulated and are effectively "forced to work in the black sector for as little as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department stated: "We are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - granting this would establish an motivation for individuals to come to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be decided with approximately a 33% requiring over one year, according to official statistics from the spring this current year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told the team he would not have engaged in that.

However, he explains that those he interviewed laboring in illegal convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", especially those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent all of their money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've sacrificed all they had."

Ali concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but additionally [you]