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

A pair of Kurdish individuals agreed to work covertly to reveal a operation behind unlawful High Street businesses because the wrongdoers are causing harm the reputation of Kurds in the UK, they explain.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided legally in the UK for many years.

Investigators discovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was running small shops, hair salons and vehicle cleaning services throughout the UK, and wanted to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, looking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to distribute contraband tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to establish and run a enterprise on the main street in plain sight. Those involved, we discovered, compensate Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the businesses in their identities, assisting to mislead the officials.

Saman and Ali also were able to covertly film one of those at the core of the operation, who claimed that he could remove official fines of up to £60,000 encountered those employing unauthorized employees.

"I sought to contribute in uncovering these unlawful practices [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't represent Kurdish people," says Saman, a ex- asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists acknowledge that disagreements over unauthorized migration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could inflame conflicts.

But the other reporter states that the illegal working "negatively affects the whole Kurdish community" and he believes driven to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was worried the publication could be used by the radical right.

He states this especially struck him when he discovered that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity protest was occurring in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the gathering, displaying "we want our nation back".

The reporters have both been observing social media reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and explain it has generated strong anger for certain individuals. One social media post they found stated: "How can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

Another urged their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish community," Saman explains. "Our goal is to reveal those who have damaged its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and deeply troubled about the actions of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that assists refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Asylum seekers now receive approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in accommodation which offers meals, according to Home Office guidance.

"Realistically saying, this is not adequate to maintain a acceptable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are mostly restricted from employment, he feels numerous are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are essentially "compelled to work in the unofficial sector for as low as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the government department stated: "The government are unapologetic for not granting asylum seekers the authorization to work - doing so would generate an reason for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Asylum applications can require years to be decided with almost a one-third requiring more than a year, according to official figures from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to accomplish, but he informed us he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he says that those he met working in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "lost", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent all their funds to come to the UK, they had their refugee application rejected and now they've lost all they had."

The other reporter concurs that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"If [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but simultaneously [you]