The Reasons Our Team Went Covert to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish individuals agreed to go undercover to reveal a organization behind illegal commercial establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the UK, they state.

The two, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived lawfully in the United Kingdom for a long time.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish criminal operation was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and wanted to discover more about how it worked and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Ali and Saman presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to work, attempting to acquire and run a convenience store from which to distribute illegal tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were able to discover how straightforward it is for someone in these circumstances to set up and operate a commercial operation on the High Street in plain sight. Those involved, we learned, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to legally establish the operations in their names, helping to fool the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could erase official penalties of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I sought to participate in uncovering these illegal operations [...] to loudly proclaim that they don't speak for Kurdish people," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having escaped from Kurdistan - a area that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a country - because his safety was at risk.

The reporters admit that disagreements over illegal immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and state they have both been concerned that the investigation could worsen tensions.

But the other reporter states that the unauthorized working "harms the whole Kurdish-origin population" and he feels driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, the journalist explains he was concerned the publication could be seized upon by the radical right.

He states this notably impressed him when he realized that extreme right activist Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was occurring in the capital on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating undercover. Banners and banners could be spotted at the gathering, displaying "we demand our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been observing online response to the exposé from within the Kurdish population and say it has sparked significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook message they found read: "In what way can we find and locate [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

Another urged their relatives in Kurdistan to be slaughtered.

They have also read claims that they were spies for the UK authorities, and betrayers to other Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no desire of hurting the Kurdish community," Saman states. "Our objective is to expose those who have damaged its standing. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and deeply troubled about the actions of such individuals."

Most of those seeking refugee status claim they are fleeing politically motivated oppression, according to an expert from the a refugee support organization, a non-profit that helps refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the case for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, struggled for many years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now receive about forty-nine pounds a per week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which provides food, according to official policies.

"Practically speaking, this isn't sufficient to maintain a acceptable lifestyle," states the expert from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prohibited from working, he believes a significant number are vulnerable to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to work in the black market for as little as £3 per hourly rate".

A representative for the government department said: "The government are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the permission to work - granting this would generate an incentive for people to migrate to the United Kingdom illegally."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be resolved with almost a one-third taking over 12 months, according to official data from the spring this year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been extremely easy to accomplish, but he told the team he would never have done that.

However, he says that those he met working in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "lost", particularly those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They spent all their money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've lost everything."

Ali agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

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