The Reasons We Went Covert to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish men consented to go undercover to uncover a operation behind illegal main street businesses because the criminals are causing harm the image of Kurdish people in the UK, they state.

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

The team found that a Kurdish crime network was running convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services the length of the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was involved.

Armed with hidden cameras, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish asylum seekers with no permission to be employed, looking to buy and manage a small shop from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to uncover how simple it is for someone 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 legally establish the businesses in their identities, enabling to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also were able to secretly document one of those at the centre of the organization, who stated that he could eliminate government penalties of up to sixty thousand pounds imposed on those hiring unauthorized laborers.

"Personally wanted to play a role in uncovering these unlawful operations [...] to say that they do not characterize us," says Saman, a former asylum seeker personally. Saman came to the country without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a region that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a country - because his safety was at threat.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the UK and explain they have both been anxious that the investigation could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the unauthorized labor "negatively affects the entire Kurdish community" and he feels driven to "expose it [the criminal network] out into broad daylight".

Furthermore, the journalist mentions he was worried the publication could be exploited by the extreme right.

He explains this especially struck him when he noticed that extreme right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom protest was happening in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be observed at the rally, reading "we demand our country back".

Saman and Ali have both been monitoring online response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish population and report it has generated strong frustration for certain individuals. One social media post they found read: "How can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

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

They have also encountered claims that they were informants for the UK authorities, and traitors to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman states. "Our goal is to uncover those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and profoundly troubled about the actions of such persons."

Most of those applying for asylum say they are fleeing political persecution, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the scenario for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, faced difficulties for many years. He says he had to live on less than twenty pounds a per week while his asylum claim was considered.

Refugee applicants now are provided approximately £49 a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in accommodation which includes food, according to official regulations.

"Practically saying, this is not enough to support a respectable existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are mostly prevented from working, he believes numerous are vulnerable to being exploited and are essentially "compelled to labor in the illegal market for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department commented: "We are unapologetic for refusing to grant asylum seekers the permission to work - doing so would generate an reason for individuals to come to the UK illegally."

Asylum cases can take multiple years to be decided with nearly a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official statistics from the late March this current year.

The reporter explains working illegally in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very straightforward to do, but he explained to us he would never have participated in that.

Nonetheless, he says that those he met employed in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", particularly those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used all their money to travel to the UK, they had their asylum rejected and now they've lost everything."

The other reporter acknowledges that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"If [they] say you're prohibited to work - but simultaneously [you]