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

A pair of Kurdish individuals agreed to work covertly to expose a network behind illegal main street businesses because the criminals are negatively affecting the image of Kurds in the Britain, they say.

The two, who we are referring to as Saman and Ali, are Kurdish investigators who have both lived lawfully in the UK for a long time.

Investigators uncovered that a Kurdish-linked illegal enterprise was managing small shops, barbershops and car washes throughout Britain, and aimed to discover more about how it operated and who was participating.

Armed with secret cameras, Saman and Ali posed as Kurdish-origin asylum seekers with no authorization to work, seeking to acquire and operate a convenience store from which to trade contraband cigarettes and electronic cigarettes.

The investigators were successful to reveal how straightforward it is for an individual in these situations to establish and manage a enterprise on the High Street in public view. Those participating, we discovered, pay Kurds who have UK citizenship to legally establish the businesses in their names, assisting to deceive the authorities.

Ali and Saman also were able to covertly document one of those at the centre of the operation, who claimed that he could remove government penalties of up to £60,000 faced those hiring unauthorized employees.

"I sought to participate in revealing these unlawful practices [...] to say that they do not represent us," says one reporter, a former asylum seeker himself. The reporter entered the country illegally, having escaped from the Kurdish region - a territory that spans the borders of multiple Middle Eastern countries but which is not internationally recognised as a nation - because his well-being was at danger.

The journalists recognize that conflicts over unauthorized immigration are elevated in the United Kingdom and say they have both been worried that the inquiry could intensify conflicts.

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

Furthermore, Ali mentions he was worried the publication could be exploited by the radical right.

He explains this especially affected him when he realized that extreme right activist a prominent activist's Unite the Kingdom march was occurring in London on one of the weekends he was operating covertly. Signs and banners could be seen at the rally, displaying "we demand our country back".

The reporters have both been tracking online reaction to the inquiry from within the Kurdish community and explain it has generated significant frustration for certain individuals. One Facebook message they spotted read: "In what way can we identify and find [the undercover reporters] to kill them like dogs!"

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

They have also read accusations that they were informants for the UK government, and traitors to other Kurds. "We are not spies, and we have no intention of harming the Kurdish community," Saman explains. "Our aim is to uncover those who have damaged its image. We are honored of our Kurdish-origin heritage and deeply concerned about the behavior of such persons."

Most of those applying for refugee status claim they are fleeing political persecution, according to an expert from the a charitable organization, a non-profit that supports asylum seekers and refugee applicants in the UK.

This was the scenario for our covert journalist one investigator, who, when he initially came to the UK, experienced challenges for years. He explains he had to live on under £20 a week while his asylum claim was considered.

Asylum seekers now get approximately forty-nine pounds a week - or £9.95 if they are in housing which includes food, according to government policies.

"Realistically stating, this is not adequate to support a respectable existence," says Mr Avicil from the RWCA.

Because asylum seekers are largely prohibited from working, he thinks numerous are vulnerable to being exploited and are effectively "forced to work in the illegal market for as low as £3 per hour".

A spokesperson for the authorities stated: "The government do not apologize for refusing to grant asylum seekers the authorization to be employed - doing so would generate an incentive for individuals to come to the UK without authorization."

Refugee cases can require years to be processed with approximately a one-third requiring over 12 months, according to official figures from the spring this year.

Saman says being employed without authorization in a vehicle cleaning service, hair salon or convenience store would have been very straightforward to achieve, but he told the team he would not have done that.

Nevertheless, he states that those he encountered laboring in illegal mini-marts during his investigation seemed "lost", notably those whose asylum claim has been denied and who were in the appeal stage.

"They used all of their funds to migrate to the United Kingdom, they had their refugee application refused and now they've sacrificed everything."

Ali agrees that these individuals seemed in dire straits.

"When [they] state you're prohibited to be employed - but also [you]