The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish-background individuals decided to go undercover to uncover a network behind unlawful High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both resided lawfully in the UK for many years.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was operating mini-marts, barbershops and car washes across the UK, and wanted to learn more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish asylum seekers with no right to work, seeking to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to trade unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for a person in these circumstances to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in public view. Those participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to register the businesses in their identities, assisting to fool the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to secretly record one of those at the core of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate official penalties of up to £60,000 faced those employing unauthorized employees.

"Personally wanted to contribute in exposing these illegal practices [...] to declare that they do not characterize us," explains one reporter, a ex- asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that covers the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his life was at threat.

The journalists acknowledge that tensions over unauthorized immigration are high in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the probe could intensify hostilities.

But the other reporter says that the illegal labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist says he was worried the coverage could be exploited by the far-right.

He explains this especially impressed him when he discovered that radical right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating secretly. Placards and flags could be observed at the gathering, reading "we want our country returned".

Both journalists have both been monitoring online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and explain it has generated intense frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook message they found stated: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

One more called for their relatives in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter explains. "Our goal is to uncover those who have harmed its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and extremely troubled about the activities of such persons."

The majority of those seeking refugee status say they are escaping political persecution, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He states he had to live on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was processed.

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

"Practically stating, this isn't enough to sustain a dignified life," explains the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from working, he believes many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "obligated to labor in the unofficial economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the government department stated: "We do not apologize for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - granting this would establish an reason for people to travel to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can take a long time to be decided with approximately a third requiring more than 12 months, according to official statistics from the late March this year.

Saman says being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he interviewed laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the legal challenge.

"They used all of their funds to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum rejected and now they've forfeited everything."

Ali concurs that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to work - but simultaneously [you]