The Reasons Our Team Chose to Go Covert to Expose Crime in the Kurdish-origin Population

Two Kurdish individuals decided to go undercover to uncover a organization behind illegal main street businesses because the wrongdoers are negatively affecting the standing of Kurds in the United Kingdom, they state.

The two, who we are calling Saman and Ali, are Kurdish reporters who have both lived legally in the United Kingdom for a long time.

Investigators found that a Kurdish crime network was managing convenience stores, hair salons and car washes across the UK, and wanted to find out more about how it operated and who was participating.

Prepared with hidden recording devices, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish-origin refugee applicants with no right to be employed, looking to buy and operate a mini-mart from which to distribute unlawful tobacco products and vapes.

The investigators were successful to discover how simple it is for a person in these circumstances to start and operate a enterprise on the High Street in public view. The individuals participating, we found, compensate Kurdish individuals who have British citizenship to register the businesses in their names, helping to mislead the authorities.

Saman and Ali also succeeded to discreetly record one of those at the heart of the operation, who claimed that he could eliminate official sanctions of up to £60k imposed on those employing unauthorized employees.

"Personally aimed to play a role in uncovering these unlawful activities [...] to declare that they do not characterize Kurdish people," says Saman, a former asylum seeker himself. Saman came to the United Kingdom illegally, having escaped from Kurdistan - a territory that covers the boundaries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria but which is not officially recognized as a country - because his well-being was at risk.

The journalists admit that conflicts over illegal migration are high in the UK and explain they have both been worried that the inquiry could inflame tensions.

But Ali says that the illegal working "damages the entire Kurdish-origin community" and he feels obligated to "bring it [the criminal network] out into the open".

Separately, Ali explains he was concerned the reporting could be used by the extreme right.

He states this notably affected him when he discovered that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's national unity march was taking place in the capital on one of the weekends he was working covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the rally, reading "we want our nation back".

Both journalists have both been observing social media response to the inquiry from within the Kurdish-origin community and report it has sparked intense outrage for some. One social media post they found said: "In what way can we find and track [the undercover reporters] to harm them like dogs!"

One more called for their relatives in Kurdistan to be harmed.

They have also seen claims that they were informants for the UK government, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not informants, and we have no desire of harming the Kurdish-origin community," Saman says. "Our objective is to expose those who have harmed its image. We are proud of our Kurdish-origin identity and extremely troubled about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the a refugee support organization, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

This was the case for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to survive on less than £20 a per week while his refugee application was considered.

Asylum seekers now are provided approximately £49 a week - or £9.95 if they are in shelter which includes food, according to Home Office guidance.

"Honestly stating, this is not adequate to maintain a dignified existence," says the expert from the the organization.

Because asylum seekers are generally prevented from working, he believes numerous are susceptible to being taken advantage of and are practically "forced to labor in the black sector for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities stated: "The government do not apologize for denying refugee applicants the permission to be employed - granting this would create an motivation for people to come to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can take years to be resolved with almost a 33% requiring over 12 months, according to government data from the end of March this year.

The reporter states working without authorization in a car wash, hair salon or mini-mart would have been very easy to accomplish, but he told the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he met employed in illegal convenience stores during his investigation seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been rejected and who were in the appeal stage.

"These individuals expended their entire savings to travel to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum refused and now they've sacrificed their entire investment."

The other reporter agrees that these people seemed hopeless.

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