Why Our Team Went Undercover to Reveal Crime in the Kurdish Community

Two Kurdish-background men decided to go undercover to expose a operation behind illegal main street establishments because the lawbreakers are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the Britain, they explain.

The two, who we are calling Ali and Saman, are Kurdish-origin investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing mini-marts, barbershops and car washes the length of the United Kingdom, and aimed to find out more about how it operated and who was taking part.

Armed with secret cameras, Ali and Saman posed as Kurdish refugee applicants with no permission to work, looking to buy and operate a small shop from which to distribute unlawful cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

They were successful to uncover how straightforward it is for an individual in these conditions to start and manage a business on the High Street in plain sight. The individuals participating, we learned, compensate Kurds who have UK citizenship to register the operations in their identities, assisting to mislead the government agencies.

Ali and Saman also managed to secretly document one of those at the core of the organization, who asserted that he could remove government sanctions of up to £60k imposed on those hiring illegal employees.

"I wanted to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to say that they don't speak for our community," states Saman, a former refugee applicant himself. The reporter entered the United Kingdom without authorization, having fled Kurdistan - a territory that straddles the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not globally acknowledged as a nation - because his life was at threat.

The reporters recognize that tensions over illegal immigration are significant in the United Kingdom and state they have both been anxious that the inquiry could worsen hostilities.

But the other reporter states that the illegal labor "damages the whole Kurdish-origin community" and he feels compelled to "bring it [the criminal network] out into public view".

Separately, the journalist says he was anxious the publication could be used by the far-right.

He says this notably impressed him when he realized that far-right campaigner a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom rally was taking place in London on one of the Saturdays and Sundays he was operating covertly. Banners and flags could be seen at the protest, reading "we demand our nation returned".

Saman and Ali have both been tracking online feedback to the inquiry from inside the Kurdish community and explain it has caused strong outrage for some. One Facebook comment they observed stated: "In what way can we identify and track [the undercover reporters] to attack them like dogs!"

A different demanded their families in Kurdistan to be attacked.

They have also encountered claims that they were agents for the British authorities, and betrayers to fellow Kurdish people. "We are not spies, and we have no aim of hurting the Kurdish-origin community," one reporter says. "Our objective is to expose those who have compromised its image. Both journalists are proud of our Kurdish heritage and deeply concerned about the activities of such individuals."

The majority of those seeking refugee status claim they are escaping political discrimination, according to Ibrahim Avicil from the Refugee Workers Cultural Association, a non-profit that assists refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.

This was the situation for our covert reporter one investigator, who, when he initially came to the United Kingdom, experienced challenges for many years. He explains he had to survive on under twenty pounds a week while his asylum claim was processed.

Asylum seekers now are provided about forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which provides meals, according to official guidance.

"Realistically speaking, this is not sufficient to sustain a respectable lifestyle," says Mr Avicil from the the organization.

Because refugee applicants are generally restricted from employment, he thinks numerous are susceptible to being exploited and are practically "forced to labor in the unofficial market for as low as £3 per hourly rate".

A official for the authorities commented: "We make no apology for refusing to grant refugee applicants the right to be employed - doing so would establish an reason for people to travel to the UK illegally."

Refugee cases can take multiple years to be decided with nearly a third requiring over one year, according to government data from the end of March this year.

The reporter says being employed illegally in a car wash, barbershop or mini-mart would have been extremely simple to do, but he told the team he would never have engaged in that.

Nonetheless, he states that those he met laboring in illegal mini-marts during his research seemed "disoriented", especially those whose asylum claim has been refused and who were in the appeal stage.

"They expended all their money to come to the United Kingdom, they had their asylum denied and now they've lost their entire investment."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed hopeless.

"If [they] say you're forbidden to be employed - but also [you]