Why We Chose to Go Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish-origin Community

Two Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to uncover a operation behind unlawful High Street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the standing of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided lawfully in the UK for a long time.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked criminal operation was running convenience stores, hair salons and car washes across Britain, and wanted to learn more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, seeking to acquire and manage a mini-mart from which to sell illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and run a enterprise on the main street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their names, assisting to deceive the officials.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to covertly film one of those at the heart of the operation, who asserted that he could eliminate government fines of up to £60k imposed on those using unauthorized laborers.

"I sought to participate in revealing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they do not speak for us," explains Saman, a former refugee applicant personally. Saman entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his life was at threat.

The investigators recognize that tensions over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been worried that the investigation could intensify tensions.

But the other reporter says that the illegal working "negatively affects the whole Kurdish population" and he feels driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, Ali explains he was anxious the reporting could be exploited by the radical right.

He explains this especially affected him when he noticed that radical right activist a prominent activist's national unity protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Placards and banners could be observed at the protest, displaying "we want our nation returned".

Both journalists have both been tracking online reaction to the exposé from within the Kurdish community and report it has caused strong anger for certain individuals. One social media message they found read: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like animals!"

A different called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also seen claims that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of damaging the Kurdish community," Saman states. "Our aim is to reveal those who have damaged its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for asylum state they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a charitable organization, a organization that helps asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover reporter Saman, who, when he first came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now receive about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides meals, according to government policies.

"Practically saying, this isn't adequate to maintain a respectable lifestyle," states Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prevented from working, he believes many are open to being taken advantage of and are practically "obligated to labor in the unofficial sector for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "The government make no apology for not granting asylum seekers the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for people to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can take years to be processed with nearly a 33% requiring more than one year, according to official figures from the late March this year.

Saman explains being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely straightforward to accomplish, but he told the team he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "confused", notably those whose refugee application has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've forfeited their entire investment."

The other reporter concurs that these people seemed hopeless.

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