Why We Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

Two Kurdish-background men agreed to work covertly to reveal a organization behind illegal High Street businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes throughout Britain, and aimed to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, seeking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to trade illegal cigarettes and vapes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for an individual in these situations to set up and run a enterprise on the main street in public view. Those participating, we found, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly film one of those at the centre of the organization, who asserted that he could erase official penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I sought to participate in exposing these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not speak for our community," states Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at risk.

The reporters admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the inquiry could worsen conflicts.

But Ali states that the unauthorized working "damages the whole Kurdish population" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

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

He states this notably affected him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march was taking place in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Signs and flags could be spotted at the rally, showing "we demand our country returned".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and report it has generated strong anger for some. One social media comment they found read: "How can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read accusations that they were spies for the British government, and betrayers to other Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter says. "Our goal is to reveal those who have compromised its standing. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to survive on less than twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now are provided about £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to government guidance.

"Honestly saying, this is not adequate to maintain a respectable existence," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from employment, he feels numerous are vulnerable to being exploited and are effectively "obligated to work in the illegal sector for as low as three pounds per hour".

A official for the Home Office commented: "The government do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would create an incentive for people to travel to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Refugee applications can require years to be decided with approximately a third requiring over 12 months, according to official figures from the end of March this year.

The reporter states working without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been very simple to do, but he informed the team he would not have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he interviewed employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his investigation seemed "confused", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

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

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] declare you're prohibited to work - but also [you]