The Reasons We Chose to Go Undercover to Uncover Criminal Activity in the Kurdish Population

A pair of Kurdish-background individuals agreed to operate secretly to reveal a operation behind unlawful High Street establishments because the wrongdoers are damaging the reputation of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin reporters who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for many years.

The team uncovered that a Kurdish-linked crime network was managing convenience stores, barbershops and vehicle cleaning services across the United Kingdom, and aimed to learn more about how it operated and who was involved.

Equipped with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no right to work, attempting to acquire and manage a small shop from which to sell contraband tobacco products and vapes.

They were able to reveal how easy it is for an individual in these circumstances to establish and operate a business on the commercial area in full view. Those involved, we found, pay Kurds who have UK residency to register the businesses in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Saman and Ali also managed to discreetly record one of those at the core of the organization, who asserted that he could eliminate official fines of up to £60,000 faced those using unauthorized workers.

"I wanted to participate in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to say that they do not characterize us," states one reporter, a former asylum seeker personally. The reporter entered the country without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a region that straddles the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at threat.

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

But Ali explains that the unauthorized employment "harms the entire Kurdish-origin population" and he believes obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Furthermore, Ali says he was anxious the reporting could be seized upon by the radical right.

He says this notably affected him when he discovered that extreme right campaigner Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom protest was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and flags could be observed at the rally, displaying "we demand our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online response to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish community and report it has sparked strong outrage for certain individuals. One social media comment they observed said: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

A different called for their families in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also read accusations that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "Both of us are not informants, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish community," one reporter states. "Our aim is to uncover those who have compromised its reputation. Both journalists are honored of our Kurdish identity and deeply troubled about the behavior of such people."

The majority of those applying for refugee status state they are escaping political oppression, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports refugees and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he first arrived to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He says he had to survive on under £20 a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately forty-nine pounds a per week - or nine pounds ninety-five if they are in shelter which provides food, according to Home Office regulations.

"Realistically speaking, this isn't adequate to support a respectable life," explains Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are mostly prohibited from working, he believes numerous are open to being manipulated and are essentially "obligated to work in the black economy for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A spokesperson for the government department stated: "The government are unapologetic for refusing to grant refugee applicants the authorization to work - granting this would generate an incentive for people to migrate to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can take years to be decided with approximately a third taking more than 12 months, according to government figures from the late March this year.

The reporter says being employed without authorization in a car wash, barbershop or convenience store would have been quite straightforward to achieve, but he explained to the team he would not have participated in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", notably those whose refugee application has been denied and who were in the appeals process.

"These individuals expended their entire funds to migrate to the UK, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

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

"If [they] declare you're not allowed to work - but simultaneously [you]