Why Our Team Went Undercover to Expose Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to work covertly to expose a network behind illegal High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are damaging the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin journalists who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was operating small shops, hair salons and car washes throughout Britain, and sought to find out more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with covert recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to acquire and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to discover how straightforward it is for a person in these situations to start and run a commercial operation on the main street in public view. The individuals involved, we discovered, pay Kurdish individuals who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to deceive the officials.

Ali and Saman also were able to secretly film one of those at the core of the organization, who stated that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60,000 faced those hiring illegal employees.

"I aimed to participate in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom illegally, having fled Kurdistan - a area that covers the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a nation - because his safety was at danger.

The journalists admit that disagreements over unauthorized migration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame tensions.

But the other reporter explains that the unauthorized labor "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he believes compelled to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, the journalist says he was concerned the coverage could be seized upon by the extreme right.

He states this especially struck him when he realized that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was working undercover. Placards and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media feedback to the investigation from within the Kurdish community and say it has caused intense anger for certain individuals. One Facebook comment they observed read: "How can we locate and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter says. "Our objective is to uncover those who have harmed its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish heritage and extremely concerned about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are escaping political discrimination, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a organization that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to live on less than twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately £49 a per week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which offers food, according to Home Office policies.

"Honestly saying, this isn't sufficient to support a acceptable existence," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he believes many are open to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to work in the black economy for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A representative for the Home Office commented: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require multiple years to be resolved with almost a one-third requiring more than one year, according to government figures from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to do, but he told us he would never have done that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his research seemed "confused", notably those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"They spent all their funds to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

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