Why Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind unlawful main street establishments because the criminals are causing harm the standing of Kurdish people in the Britain, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish journalists who have both resided lawfully in the United Kingdom for years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was managing convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and aimed to learn more about how it worked and who was taking part.

Armed with covert cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no permission to work, attempting to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to trade unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how easy it is for a person in these situations to set up and operate a business on the main street in public view. Those involved, we found, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the enterprises in their identities, assisting to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also managed to secretly film one of those at the heart of the organization, who claimed that he could eliminate government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those employing illegal employees.

"Personally sought to play a role in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they don't speak for us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a area that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at danger.

The reporters acknowledge that disagreements over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But Ali states that the illegal labor "negatively affects the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he considers driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali mentions he was anxious the coverage could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this particularly struck him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be spotted at the rally, displaying "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been observing social media feedback to the inquiry from within the Kurdish population and say it has generated significant anger for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed read: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish community," Saman explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have harmed its standing. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and deeply worried about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum claim they are escaping political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the situation for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially arrived to the UK, struggled for many years. He says he had to live on under twenty pounds a week while his refugee application was processed.

Refugee applicants now get about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to official guidance.

"Practically stating, this isn't sufficient to support a dignified lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from employment, he feels many are open to being exploited and are effectively "obligated to labor in the illegal sector for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the Home Office stated: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an reason for individuals to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum cases can require a long time to be decided with approximately a third requiring more than a year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

The reporter states being employed illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite easy to do, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he explains that those he met employed in unauthorized mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended their entire funds to come to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed desperate.

"When [they] say you're prohibited to be employed - but additionally [you]