The Reasons We Went Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish-background individuals agreed to go undercover to uncover a operation behind unlawful commercial businesses because the wrongdoers are damaging the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they say.

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

The team uncovered that a Kurdish crime network was managing small shops, hair salons and car washes across the United Kingdom, and aimed to discover more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with secret recording devices, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to be employed, attempting to acquire and operate a small shop from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how easy it is for an individual in these situations to set up and manage a commercial operation on the commercial area in full view. Those participating, we found, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their identities, enabling to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60,000 imposed on those employing unauthorized laborers.

"Personally wanted to play a role in uncovering these illegal activities [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't characterize Kurdish people," states Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman entered the country illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists recognize that tensions over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the probe could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal labor "damages the whole Kurdish community" and he considers compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Additionally, Ali explains he was concerned the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He explains this notably struck him when he discovered that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in London on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Banners and flags could be observed at the protest, reading "we demand our country returned".

Both journalists have both been observing online response to the investigation from inside the Kurdish population and say it has sparked intense frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed said: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like animals!"

One more urged their families in the Kurdish region to be attacked.

They have also seen allegations that they were informants for the UK government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter explains. "Our objective is to uncover those who have harmed its reputation. We are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the activities of such individuals."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing political persecution, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that assists asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was processed.

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

"Realistically speaking, this isn't enough to support a respectable lifestyle," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prevented from employment, he believes many are susceptible to being manipulated and are essentially "compelled to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "The government do not apologize for not granting refugee applicants the authorization to be employed - doing so would generate an motivation for people to travel to the UK without authorization."

Asylum applications can take multiple years to be resolved with approximately a 33% taking more than a year, according to official figures from the spring this year.

The reporter says working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or convenience store would have been quite simple to achieve, but he informed the team he would never have engaged in that.

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

"They spent their entire savings to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost their entire investment."

Ali acknowledges that these people seemed hopeless.

"When [they] state you're not allowed to be employed - but additionally [you]