Why We Chose to Go Undercover to Expose Crime in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men agreed to work covertly to reveal a organization behind unlawful main street establishments because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The pair, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived legally in the UK for years.

Investigators found that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was operating convenience stores, barbershops and car washes the length of Britain, and sought to find out more about how it functioned and who was taking part.

Prepared with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish refugee applicants with no authorization to be employed, seeking to acquire and manage a convenience store from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how simple it is for a person in these situations to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in plain sight. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurds who have British citizenship to register the enterprises in their identities, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who asserted that he could erase official sanctions of up to £60,000 imposed on those using illegal workers.

"Personally sought to participate in exposing these illegal activities [...] to say that they do not characterize us," explains one reporter, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to 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 life was at risk.

The investigators recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and explain they have both been anxious that the inquiry could inflame hostilities.

But Ali states that the illegal working "damages the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Separately, Ali says he was concerned the reporting could be exploited by the far-right.

He states this notably struck him when he realized that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating undercover. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, showing "we demand our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the exposé from inside the Kurdish community and say it has generated strong anger for certain individuals. One Facebook message they spotted read: "In what way can we locate and find [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also encountered allegations that they were spies for the British government, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no desire of damaging the Kurdish-origin population," Saman states. "Our aim is to expose those who have damaged its image. We are proud of our Kurdish identity and profoundly worried about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those seeking asylum claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a organization that helps refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our covert reporter Saman, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, struggled for years. He says he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now get about £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in housing which offers meals, according to official regulations.

"Realistically stating, this isn't sufficient to sustain a acceptable existence," explains the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prohibited from working, he thinks many are susceptible to being exploited and are effectively "forced to labor in the illegal sector for as low as three pounds per hourly rate".

A official for the Home Office commented: "We are unapologetic for denying asylum seekers the authorization to work - doing so would create an motivation for people to migrate to the United Kingdom without authorization."

Asylum applications can require a long time to be processed with approximately a third requiring over 12 months, according to government statistics from the late March this year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to achieve, but he informed the team he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met laboring in illegal convenience stores during his research seemed "lost", notably those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their savings to come to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

"If [they] state you're forbidden to be employed - but simultaneously [you]