The Reasons We Went Undercover to Reveal Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Community

A pair of Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to reveal a organization behind illegal main street businesses because the lawbreakers are damaging the reputation of Kurdish people in the United Kingdom, they state.

The pair, who we are referring to as Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both resided lawfully in the UK for many years.

The team discovered that a Kurdish illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services throughout Britain, and aimed to find out more about how it functioned and who was participating.

Armed with hidden recording devices, Saman and Ali presented themselves as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no permission to work, seeking to purchase and operate a small shop from which to sell unlawful cigarettes and vapes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how easy it is for a person in these conditions to set up and run a enterprise on the main street in public view. The individuals participating, we learned, pay Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their identities, helping to fool the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to discreetly film one of those at the centre of the operation, who stated that he could remove government penalties of up to £60,000 imposed on those employing unauthorized employees.

"I aimed to contribute in revealing these illegal operations [...] to declare that they don't speak for Kurdish people," states Saman, a ex- refugee applicant personally. The reporter came to the UK without authorization, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a state - because his life was at danger.

The journalists recognize that disagreements over illegal immigration are significant in the UK and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could intensify conflicts.

But Ali says that the illegal employment "harms the entire Kurdish population" and he believes obligated to "expose it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Furthermore, the journalist says he was concerned the coverage could be used by the extreme right.

He states this especially affected him when he discovered that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was happening in London on one of the weekends he was working secretly. Banners and banners could be seen at the rally, reading "we demand our country returned".

The reporters have both been monitoring online reaction to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish-origin community and report it has generated significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook post they observed read: "In what way can we find and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different urged their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read allegations that they were spies for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurds. "Both of us are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish population," Saman states. "Our objective is to reveal those who have harmed its image. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply troubled about the behavior of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status say they are fleeing politically motivated discrimination, according to an expert from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a charity that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the United Kingdom.

This was the case for our undercover journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, faced difficulties for years. He explains he had to live on less than £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

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

"Honestly saying, this isn't sufficient to sustain a acceptable life," explains Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because refugee applicants are generally prohibited from employment, he feels many are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are essentially "forced to labor in the unofficial economy for as little as £3 per hour".

A official for the authorities said: "We are unapologetic for not granting refugee applicants the right to work - doing so would establish an reason for individuals to migrate to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require a long time to be resolved with nearly a third requiring more than 12 months, according to government figures from the late March this year.

The reporter states working illegally in a vehicle cleaning service, barbershop or convenience store would have been very easy to achieve, but he explained to us he would never have participated in that.

However, he says that those he met laboring in unauthorized convenience stores during his work seemed "disoriented", especially those whose refugee application has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals used their entire money to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application denied and now they've sacrificed all they had."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] declare you're not allowed to be employed - but also [you]