The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to uncover a operation behind illegal commercial enterprises because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they say.

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

The team discovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was operating mini-marts, hair salons and car washes the length of the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Equipped with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to work, attempting to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute contraband cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were able to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these situations to start and run a commercial operation on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we discovered, compensate Kurdish individuals who have UK residency to register the enterprises in their names, enabling to fool the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the organization, who stated that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60k faced those employing unauthorized employees.

"I wanted to play a role in revealing these illegal practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't speak for Kurdish people," explains Saman, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman came to the UK illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a region that spans the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists admit that tensions over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and say they have both been concerned that the inquiry could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal employment "harms the whole Kurdish population" and he feels obligated to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was anxious the coverage could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this particularly affected him when he realized that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Signs and banners could be observed at the gathering, showing "we demand our nation back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has generated significant frustration for some. One social media comment they found stated: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also read accusations that they were agents for the UK authorities, and traitors to other Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish community," Saman says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking asylum say they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first came to the UK, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now get about forty-nine pounds a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which offers meals, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly stating, this is not enough to maintain a respectable life," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prevented from working, he feels numerous are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "forced to labor in the black sector for as little as £3 per hour".

A representative for the authorities said: "The government are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would generate an incentive for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be processed with almost a one-third taking more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the spring this current year.

Saman states working without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been extremely straightforward to do, but he explained to us he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he interviewed working in illegal mini-marts during his work seemed "lost", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals spent their entire savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed all they had."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but also [you]