The Reasons We Went Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men decided to go undercover to uncover a organization behind unlawful commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they explain.

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

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was managing small shops, barbershops and car washes throughout the United Kingdom, and sought to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, looking to purchase and run a mini-mart from which to sell contraband tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for someone in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the main street in plain sight. The individuals involved, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, enabling to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the heart of the network, who stated that he could erase official penalties of up to £60,000 encountered those employing illegal laborers.

"Personally aimed to participate in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not characterize our community," states one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his life was at risk.

The investigators admit that conflicts over unauthorized migration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized employment "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali says he was worried the coverage could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He states this particularly impressed him when he discovered that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's national unity rally was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working undercover. Signs and banners could be seen at the rally, showing "we demand our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and report it has caused strong outrage for certain individuals. One Facebook message they observed stated: "How can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another demanded their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were informants for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin population," one reporter states. "Our goal is to uncover those who have harmed its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a organization that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, experienced challenges for many years. He states he had to live on under twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

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

"Practically stating, this is not enough to sustain a dignified life," says the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are largely restricted from employment, he thinks a significant number are susceptible to being exploited and are practically "compelled to labor in the unofficial market for as little as three pounds per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "We make no apology for not granting refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would generate an motivation for individuals to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can take a long time to be processed with approximately a 33% taking more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the spring this year.

The reporter says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to accomplish, but he informed the team he would not have engaged in that.

However, he states that those he met employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all of their funds to travel to the UK, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited everything."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed desperate.

"If [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but additionally [you]