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

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to uncover a organization behind illegal main street enterprises because the lawbreakers are causing harm the standing of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

The pair, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both resided legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was running convenience stores, barbershops and car washes across the United Kingdom, and wanted to learn more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Prepared with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to work, looking to acquire and run a convenience store from which to sell illegal tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.

They were able to uncover how straightforward it is for someone in these conditions to establish and operate a enterprise on the commercial area in public view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have UK residency to legally establish the operations in their names, assisting to mislead the officials.

Ali and Saman also succeeded to secretly document one of those at the centre of the network, who stated that he could erase government sanctions of up to sixty thousand pounds encountered those hiring illegal workers.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these unlawful operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they do not characterize our community," explains one reporter, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter came to the UK illegally, having fled the Kurdish region - a region that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The reporters admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are significant in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the probe could intensify hostilities.

But Ali says that the illegal employment "negatively affects the entire Kurdish population" and he believes compelled to "reveal it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Additionally, Ali explains he was worried the reporting could be seized upon by the far-right.

He explains this particularly impressed him when he realized that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the gathering, showing "we demand our nation returned".

The reporters have both been tracking social media reaction to the investigation from within the Kurdish population and report it has caused significant anger for some. One Facebook message they spotted read: "How can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

Another demanded their relatives in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered accusations that they were informants for the UK authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our aim is to reveal those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish heritage and extremely worried about the actions of such people."

Most of those applying for asylum state they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He says he had to survive on under twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was reviewed.

Refugee applicants now receive about £49 a week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which includes food, according to official guidance.

"Honestly stating, this isn't adequate to sustain a dignified lifestyle," says the expert from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are largely prohibited from working, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "obligated to work in the illegal market for as low as three pounds per hour".

A representative for the government department said: "We are unapologetic for denying refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would generate an reason for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Asylum cases can require multiple years to be processed with almost a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to government statistics from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he explained to us he would not have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized mini-marts during his investigation seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the legal challenge.

"These individuals spent their entire money to travel to the UK, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed hopeless.

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